Dear Rabbit
by Haruka Hourou
Summary: Levi and Eren happen to run into each other at the most random times, or at least, that's what he wants Eren to think. Their meetings are nothing but a random strain of coincidences… and it seems that way, until Eren finds herself in a compromising and painful situation which changes her life forever. Contains Thug-Yandere!Levi x Fem!Eren.
1. Prologue: Raised to Kill

**A/N: Inspired by the songs "Human" - Christina Perri and "I know I'm a Wolf" - Young Heretics and the video EREN x LEVI/IT'S COLD OUT THERE by TheAnimepenner.**

**This is my second fic! Whoop Whoop, apologies for the awkward summary. **

**Enjoy = w =**

**Prologue – Raised to Kill.**

It all began when Levi's aunt passed away.

His uncle was distraught over her loss, so much so, that he tried and failed more than once to take his own life, because of this, Levi's mother insisted that he live with them, she couldn't bear to see her little brother suffering such a loss all alone.

At that time, Levi was nearing his seventh birthday and happily welcomed his poor and lonely uncle into their home, to live and celebrate with them during the Christmas holiday season. Levi's father had been opposed to the infringement, but after a few weeks of soothing words from his beautiful wife, Uncle Felix was welcomed and allowed to stay.

There was more than enough room in their large, two-story colonial. His uncle slept on the second floor, two rooms down from Levi, next to his mother's craft room. Angelica, his mother, was a kind hearted woman, a sweet and caring soul who often volunteered to help those less fortunate than she. Liam, his father, was a stern and strict, yet terribly gentle man. He held such a soft spot for Angelica and Levi that it was hard to believe that he was an Admiral that held four stars.

Three years had gone by since Lily's passing, and Levi's tenth birthday was fast approaching, Liam and Angelica were returning from a short weekend getaway to celebrate their thirteenth year of marriage. Winter had come early and been particularly harsh that year, rendering many flights delayed and cancelled. Their flight however was one of the lucky few not cancelled, so with great joy they set out to return to their home, to celebrate Christmas and Levi's birthday together as a family.

That flight however, never reached it's destination. At 5:13 AM, exactly one week and six days before his tenth birthday, Levi received the news from his uncle that his parents were gone.

After the funeral, the will was read and everything was left to Levi when he became an adult at the age of eighteen, however, until that time came, as his only surviving relative, Uncle Felix was left in charge of caring for him.

Levi's tenth Christmas and birthday was the most solemn day he'd ever lived. There were no decorations, no tree, no gifts, nor celebration made. Levi locked himself in his room and cried himself to sleep, night after night, and day after day. He would only leave his room to eat and relieve himself. He stopped going to school, and closed himself off from the world and its happenings.

This continued on for the next six months until his uncle couldn't take it anymore.

Uncle Felix had had enough. He'd lost Lily, and Angelica, and now he was losing his only remaining family member and it was all Levi's fault. Levi was the one who made him lonely. Levi was the selfish rich brat who was left with everything. Levi didn't have to lift a finger and everything was just going to handed to him on a silver platter, he'd literally be taken care of for his entire life.

While preparing dinner one summer night, Uncle Felix mixed in a few extra ingredients just for Levi's portion. He called the grief stricken shell of a boy down and let him eat, then waited for the drowsiness to kick in.

When Levi awoke, he was bound to a chair by rough and bristly rope. When he realized his position, he began to thrash and scream, only to realize that his screaming was useless because he was gagged, and that his thrashing only allowed to rope to dig further into his delicate young skin.

Hearing the boy's thrashing, and the chair hitting and sliding against the floor, alerted Felix that his ward was awake, he gathered his materials and greeted the terrified boy in the dimly lit room of the basement.

"Is everything alright Levi?" He questioned while approaching the boy's trembling form, his bright gray eyes, wide with confusion and relief. Levi thought that his uncle was there to save him, and release him from his bindings… until he heard the next phrase that slipped out of Uncle Felix's crazed, grinning mouth, "What seems to be the problem my boy?"

Despite the lack of light, Levi's pupil's constricted, as the fear emerged anew. He began to realize that his Uncle Felix wasn't going to help him, no… Uncle Felix was the one who did this.

What happened, following those few moments of fear induced clarity and realization, wouldn't occur for another six months.

His uncle grabbed his face, and squeezed his cheeks between his thumb and fingers to force the gag out of Levi's mouth momentarily only to force it back in with enough force to make Levi's eye's water from the sensation of being choked. He spit on him, screaming profanities at the top of his lungs, scratching and kicking at the child restrained in the chair until he was a barely conscious, bloody, and bruised lump of shallowly breathing flesh.

The only reason it took six months for the next incident to occur, was because it took six months for Levi to completely heal, and trick himself into thinking it was just a painfully visceral nightmare. He somehow managed to bring himself to that point, and he remained unscathed until the anniversary of his parent's death.

Then the beatings started again, but the intervals in between became less and less frequent.

Uncle Felix began to drink more, now that he was forced to work to support both Levi and himself. It started out as just a weekly thing, coming home once or twice every week a little too tipsy to stand or just enough to pass out. Then it went from every week, to everyday, and from everyday, to multiple times a day, until the man would drink himself stupid and unconscious. That's when the beatings picked up, and got even worse, reaching the point to where Levi could barely move after each one.

There were no longer months, not even weeks, in between. After a particularly harsh beating, Levi would be left alone to lick his wounds in his room for a few days, but never long enough to completely heal before he was subjected to the sharp kicks to the stomach and fists to the face, the always colorful choice of derogatory curses, and various cheap alcohols Uncle Felix chose to launch at the boy or drench his wounded body in.

This lasted through Levi's twelfth birthday, when he'd found some solace in caring for an injured rabbit he'd stumbled upon weeks before. It was a beautiful cottontail rabbit, lush brown fur and large round eyes. He'd never gotten around to naming it, but he found the days they spent together a little easier to get through.

Unfortunately, Uncle Felix discovered the rabbit and decided to slit its throat and gut it right in front of Levi, after roughing the boy up enough to keep him from fighting back. The boy groaned and shouted his protests from his place on the floor, crying and begging his uncle to spare the creature, but the grin on Felix's face only grew wider as the innocent creature was butchered.

Weeks following the loss of his rabbit, Levi waited for Uncle Felix to come home from one of his usual drunken escapades. Levi had hidden in the linen closet, kitchen knife held tightly in hand, and pressed firmly against his frail, bruised frame. When Uncle Felix finally came inside, and had passed out before making it to the sofa as usual, Levi crept out of the closet.

He quietly and slowly approached his uncle's limp form, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the stench of the man's rancid vomit, and alcohol scented breath. He carefully stepped over his uncle's body, he took a deep breath as he slowly lowered his shaking frame onto his uncle's stomach, straddling the man's perpetually growing waistline.

Then he plunged the knife into his throat.

The violent jolt from the grown man below him, writhing under the unexpected weight of the small boy and choking on his own foul blood, made Uncle Felix's glazed and hollowed eyes widen in surprise, pain, and fear.

Levi paused a moment, terrified at the sight before him, before he shut his eyes tightly and thrust the knife in repeatedly, faster and deeper each time until the violently shaking and crimson soaked form below him stopped moving.

Levi opened his eyes and looked down at the grotesque image below him; he immediately regretted his decision as he took in the widely agape, bloodied orifice that once was his uncle's mouth. Bits and pieces of mangled muscle, that was once a tongue, and the tissue that had made up his cheeks were splayed across the red and pink mess before him. The jaw was barely intact, the lower jaw and his teeth jutting out unnaturally as it fell against the slab of muscular tubing and cartilage that was once a throat. The same throat that used to scream profanities at the young child. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head, red and yellow decorating what was once white on the now, useless organs.

He puked, adding a watery layer of acidic, pale yellow liquid into the mix of broken bone, cartilage, sliced flesh, and tissue. Levi sat, hands still wrapped tightly around the kitchen knife, slippery and sticky with the cooling blood of man who he once loved and still feared, his Uncle Felix.

Slowly and shakily, he raised his body off the mangled corpse beneath him; the knife was still gripped tightly in his hand as he walked to the kitchen sink. He filled it with bleach and hot water, and set the knife, along with his sticky red stained hands, inside the heated basic solution, watching with a somewhat fascinated glint in his eyes as the red spread and dispersed out in thin, transparent tendrils in the liquid.

Levi stood there, with his hands sunk into the solution up to his wrists for several minutes, until he started to register the blistering burn that assaulted his delicate skin from having prolonged contact with the bleach solution.

He screamed and withdrew his pink skinned hands as he dropped to the ground, raking his hands through his hair and pulling at the roots, screaming and sobbing, letting out all the terrified screams and tears his little body had built up and bottled inside for the past two years of abuse he'd suffered at the hands of the cooling corpse that now littered his living room floor.

After screaming his lungs out, he forced his tired and shocked body up to his bathroom, where he took a hot shower, scrubbing his delicate skin raw and red, trying to get rid of the strong chemical smell of the bleach, the stench of the vomit, and the feeling of the tacky, dried blood that he'd drenched himself in.

* * *

><p>It took two weeks for Levi to finally abandon the house, leaving the body of his uncle to decay and feed the hordes of insects that had infested his childhood home after his parent's death. He found himself wandering the streets, hoping to find a decent place to rest and escape from the smell of decayed and rancid flesh.<p>

He'd managed to find a decent overpass to hide under for a few days, before he was reported by an older woman walking her pretentious and yappy snot of a lap dog. He ran, walking around a park near the elementary school he'd attended as a younger child. He'd sleep on the bench for a few hours at night before getting up and rinsing himself off in the small man-made lake before people would begin to show up.

It was the second week since he'd left his home to decay that he finally ran out of food.

Levi wandered around the city, using his looks and young stature to earn enough pity from passing women, and a few men, to spare him enough change to keep himself eating at least once a day. It was then that he stumbled upon, what appeared to be an old run-down apartment building. He passed it several times, contemplating whether or not to risk breaking and entering the place, but after his fourth week on the streets he'd given up on caring.

Late one chilly night, he snuck into the building using a stairwell attached to the side of it; he climbed to the top and managed to pull himself up the ladder and onto the roof. He rested on the rooftop for about an hour before attempting to open the door that lead into the building. Anxiety built up in his small, starved system, as he pulled open the door, both surprised and happy to see that it was unlocked. He crept inside the dark and not much warmer building before shutting the door behind him. That night, he slept in the corner of that small space, between the roof access door and the stairwell that lead further into the building.

He awoke to the sound of roughly blowing wind, hitting the metal of the door and sharply passing by the protrusion of the roof entrance. He stretched and allowed the blood to flow into his numb feet before cautiously creeping down the stairwell and into the maze of halls that he found himself in.

There were many doors, almost like a hotel, but Levi was too nervous to try and open any of them. Too nervous, too tired, and too hungry to do more than he deemed necessary, that is until he heard distinct sound of a gun firing, and smelled the gun powder as it wafted through the air.

He felt his heart beat increase as he nervously gulped and scrambled into the first room he could. He crawled atop a metal shelf and forced the rusty vent screen over the crawl space, off. He regretted his action soon after as the screen fell to the ground, making a loud clattering noise. Despite this, he quickly pulled his small body into the space and distanced himself from the smell of gun powder and the shuffling of feet that followed his noise making.

Levi steadied his shaking body in the crawlspace and managed to find himself above an empty room. He decided to rest there, slowing his breath as much as he could as he listened to his surroundings. His heart rate gradually slowed and he let a small sigh of relief escape his cracked and chapped lips. This peace lasted long enough for his eyes to slowly drift close, as he fell into a fatigue induced sleep.

His slumber was interrupted when the door to the room he was above burst open, soon several angry male voices reached Levi's ears, awakening his senses and shocking him out of his sleep. The shock made him jerk his body, causing his already flimsy space to shake, Levi cursed as he heard the men below him stop talking.

"What the fuck was that?" One of the voices asked, the nervous tone in his voice made him sound younger, and more inexperienced.

"Who's there? Show yourself unless you want a bullet in your face." Came another steady, and aged voice.

Levi froze, trying his best not to move or even breath, taking breaths as shallow and slow as his body would allow. Unfortunately, due to the decay of the building and the jolt of his body when he was awoken, the vent began to creak and give way under his weight, now that it was loosened more than it had been before.

Within seconds of his eyes widening in realization, the vent collapsed, sending Levi crashing down towards the two occupants in the room.

He landed with a heavy thud on the carpeted floor, his face scraping against the carpet and his skin burning as he fell and slid across it. The younger male quickly grabbed Levi by the back of his neck and hoisted his flailing, and protesting frame up, keeping his feet from touching the ground. Levi stopped his thrashing when he felt cold hard metal pressing onto the side of his face.

"Who the fuck are you and who sent you kid?"

Levi, frozen with fear and anger, could only glare at the older gentleman standing before him. The one holding him shook him, grip tightening on the back of his neck as he slapped Levi on the cheek with the back of his gun.

"I said who sent you, you piece of shit." The man holding the gun raised his voice at the boy again.

The hit brought him back to his senses as he shakily replied, "N-no one. No one sent me. I wandered in on my own." He felt tears prickling his eyes, blurring his vision as pain blossomed on the side of face and blood pooled in his mouth.

The man holding him shook him again, this time lowering Levi to the ground and pushing him to his knees. He landed a swift and heavy footed kick to his back, causing Levi to slump forward and cry out in pain.

"I WAS COLD. I-I was cold. N-no one sent me. I-" His desperate sobbing was cut off by another kick in the side, making him curl into a tight ball to protect his frail body as the man continued to assault him with kicks.

"That's enough." Came the command of the older man. The kicks stopped immediately and the younger man stepped back. The older man who issued the order bent down and forced Levi's bloodied and swelling face up, "you got anywhere to go kid?"

Levi searched the man's face, offering the best questioning look he could managed with his features distorted from the swelling, redness, and blood. He couldn't shake his head, so he spoke as loudly as he could, "N-no sir."

The man slackened his grip on Levi hair, and let his head fall back to the carpeted floor. The rest that followed was a blur, his consciousness faded in and out as he was lifted and his wounds were dressed. He was cleaned and force fed before he was locked in a damp room with a bed and urination bucket. After a few days of being locked away, while his wounds healed, Levi was woken up by the same elderly man who'd allowed him to stay in his current pit.

"Welcome to the legion kid, starting today you're one of us, and you'll be expected to earn your keep."

Those words would guide Levi through his troubled teen years, and into his early adulthood as quickly rose in rank, attaining the coveted title of "Corporal" as he abandoned both the beauty and the horror of his past.

He would have stayed with the syndicate if it wasn't for the change in leadership that took place five years after his induction into the legion. The old boss was deemed too old and too soft to handle the young, hot blooded members who made up the majority of the legion, so the boss's son took over and changed everything.

They were a band of well organized, respected, and infamous thieves before, but with the change of leadership, they became a messy, feared, and wicked gang of murderers who looted what they wanted, whether or not they had to kill for it. Under the old boss, there were no deliberate deaths made in cold blood. Under the new boss, entire families, and unlucky strangers that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, were brutally mutilated and murdered for sport.

This is not what Levi joined.

His group would rough people up, not kill them, not mutilate them. They didn't rape women and children. They didn't skin people alive. They didn't kill entire families starting from the infants and ending with the grandparents for entertainment.

This is not what Levi joined.

This was not the group who raised him to be street smart, and to only take what he needed to survive.

No.

These were cold blooded and heartless maniacs. Murderers. Psychopaths. And they were starting to trigger the memory of Uncle Felix_. _

_This is not what Levi joined._

This is not what he wanted. He did not want to stay, he refused to stay. 'I have to leave… I need to get away from this place. This is not who I am… I don't want to be like him.'

* * *

><p><em>"I'm done. I'm leaving. I didn't agree to join a group of cold blooded murderers." The stern and steady voice of the short, dark haired male echoed off the cold metal walls of the abandoned building, he, and numerous other suspicious characters occupied.<em>

_"That wasn't the deal you piece of shit."…_


	2. Our First Meeting

**Chapter One – Our First Meeting**

"I'm done. I'm leaving. I didn't agree to join a group of cold blooded murderers." The stern and steady voice of the short, dark haired male echoed off the cold metal walls of the abandoned building, he, and numerous other suspicious characters occupied.

"That wasn't the deal you piece of shit." Spat one of the other men in the room, he slowly approached the smaller man, fists clenched at his side for a moment before he gradually crouched into a fighting stance, ready to strike as soon as the boss gave the word.

"Corporal," the man commanding the group of thugs started, "you're going to regret this… you're one of our best…so I'll still let you reconsider." He paused and stepped off of his seat, walking towards the 'Corporal.' He stopped a little less than a foot from the shorter male, and stuck out the tip of his boot.

"Just take back what you said. Kneel down and kiss my boot," he flicked the tip of his boot for added emphasis, "beg for your life, and I'll consider letting you go with just a few bruises for this insolence. You know who your family is, and family doesn't turn its back on each other."

The black haired man lowered his head, fists loosely balled at his sides as he spoke, "Family? The only _family_ I have is dead; you assholes are hardly worth being called _shit_, let alone family. It's insulting." He raised his head, sharp gray eyes boring holes into the dull brown ones of the slightly older male in front of him. "Go fuck yourself, and your precious _family_. Cause I'm not a fucking part of it." He punctuated his sharp and spiteful words with the tightening of his fists, raising them higher into a fighting stance, ready to take on the group of thugs who showed up for his parting beat down. The fate of anyone who went against the boss or disagreed with the way the syndicate operated. Only a few others before Levi had done this, and even fewer had survived it.

"Suit yourself, _Corporal_." The older man stepped back and raised his hand, "Whoever kills this bastard get's his title." He stepped further away, walking towards a door in the back of the room and left the group of overzealous thugs to make mincemeat out of Levi.

* * *

><p>After beating down four guys, nearly twice his size, Levi managed to get his hand on a pocket knife. He stabbed and cut at a few others who came at him, expertly dodging their wild and sluggish movements.<p>

His smaller frame and size allowed him to glide through the group of thugs like a ravenous wolf ripping through a gang of unfit elk. He'd managed to get through about a third of the men participating in his farewell beating with just a few scratches on his face. The last two thirds were a bit more troublesome.

He thought about escaping and simply outrunning the out of shape buffoons while he still had the energy, but the likelihood of getting caught in an ambush outside was still high. Less than an eighth of the syndicate members were present in the room.

He was sure the boss just wasn't going to let him go, he was one the best members that had ever been a part of the legion. He was also certain that he wouldn't escape completely unscathed, but he was not expecting to run out of stamina as quickly as he had. It was like the faster he knocked them out, the more there were. It seemed endless.

Levi finally decided to risk being set up, and broke into a full sprint towards the door the boss had gone through. Taking a fraction of second to let his eyes adjust to the brightness of the narrow hallway, he ascertained that there were no others waiting to attack him.

He quickly ran down the narrow pathway, making a few turns before he reached the stairwell he'd been searching for. He began his speedy ascent, feeling somewhat winded from his haste.

After climbing three stories, he ran up and threw open the door to the rooftop. It was dark and beginning to rain. 'Perfect, this will cover up my tracks once it picks up.' He was thankful for the rain; if it got heavier it would provide a good cover for the sound of his running, and lower the visibility of his chasers.

He spotted the rusted, less than sturdy, ladder leading down to an equally suspicious stairwell that would lead him to the alleyways. He took a breath and began to hurry down the ladder. Just as he got to the jangling stairwell, he heard the door being forced open and the angry and winded shouts of men searching for him.

He quickened his pace and regretted it the moment he did, the rain he'd been thankful for only moments before, came down harder than he was expecting, soaking through his clothing and making the already dangerous descent even more perilous. He lost his footing and slipped down a few steps, slamming his ankle against one of the side rails.

"Fuck!" He let out the loud curse, which alerted his pursuers of his position. Muttering a few more curses he forced himself to go on, despite his protesting and throbbing ankle. He landed with a less than graceful thud in the alleyway, covering himself with mud and other specimen that littered the dumping grounds.

He continued his run, at a much slower pace, now that his ankle had been nearly compromised; cursing each time it hit the ground.

It was after another fifteen minutes of sloppy running and swerving in and out of the alleyways he'd once called home when he slipped and fell, landing on the already weak and throbbing ankle. The few men who'd managed to keep up with the ex-corporal were on him within moments, kicking, spitting and punching whatever part of his body they could reach. He managed to bring himself to a standing position, getting a few good hits on two of the men, and a good kick that he regretted as soon as it landed on another, leaving only one man to finish.

After the kick to the third man, Levi lost his footing and slipped on the wet and cold ground, scraping his arm and a knee in the process. The last man came at him with a blade, Levi crouched and barely avoided a knife in the face, he then tripped the man and dragged him, kicking and screaming across the muddied concrete ground. He grabbed the knife and forced it out of the man's protesting palm, and finally lodged it the back of his neck, giving it a strong twist and stopping when he heard the sickening, yet satisfying crunch of the vertebrae severing.

Levi sat, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath, letting the heavy and cold rainwater wash away the blood and mud that covered his drenched and injured body.

He slowly pulled himself up, limping away from the scene to distance himself, lest others managed to find him.

He managed to keep going although sore, bloodied and bruised, with more than a few broken ribs, and a swelling, possibly fractured ankle, for thirty more minutes before he collapsed in an unfamiliar alleyway. He pushed his aching and tired body up against the brick wall, concealed from the streets behind a dumpster. He looked up into the blackened sky, rain pouring down onto his face as his breath began to slow.

"Shit." He started to let out a frustrated sigh but stopped, cringing at the ache he felt in his chest, 'I got really fucked up.' He let his eyes drift close, trying to ignore the ache and throbbing, radiating throughout his body and in his ankle, reaching down into this foot and further up his calf.

Soon, the ache started to dull as his body became numb from the pouring, cold rain. He was completely soaked through to the bone, skin wrinkling and fingertips taking on a red, then purplish color as his body fought to stay warm. He remained in the alleyway, consciousness fading in and out for several hours, late into the night.

* * *

><p>Three days before Levi's departure from the legion, a new teen's widowed and single mother, departed on her own journey, a ten-day long business trip to be exact, leaving her thirteen year old daughter, Eren, home alone for the first time.<p>

"Eren make sure you take out the trash every day. I don't want to come home and find a bug infestation because you 'didn't feel' like doing your chores." Carla Yeager emphasized the 'didn't feel' with dramatized air quotes as she addressed her 'newly teenaged' daughter. "Eren, are you listening to me? Eren!?"

"Yes I am geez mom, I get it. Take out the trash, wash the dishes, and do the laundry." The teen spoke with birthday induced arrogance still high in her system since she'd turned thirteen only one week prior to their conversation.

Carla walked over to her daughter, who was sitting comfortably sprawled out on their small, camel colored leather sofa. She walked around the sofa and directly into Eren's line of sight, blocking her view of the cartoon she'd been paying more attention to than her mother.

"Hey I can't see!" Eren protested, pulling herself up and trying to look around her mother's form.

Carla huffed, placing one hand on her hip and the using the other to grab a hold of Eren's ear, pulling it up and towards her as she spoke. "This place better be spotless while I'm gone young lady. It's clean now, no thanks to you, and I do not want to clean anything when I get back because I'm going to be exhausted. You didn't want to have Petra babysit you anymore so you're going to have to accept the responsibility of being alone and caring for yourself. If you don't shape up right now and stop acting like a spoiled child, then I'm going to go and call Petra and have her stay with you. Do you understand me young lady?"

Eren groaned in protest and her ear was yanked in response. She grabbed a hold of her mother's hand to try and lessen the pinching and pulling pressure on her earlobe, "I get it. I'm sorry mom, I get it! Everything will be spotless and in order so please, just let me stay alone this one time! I'm a teenager now; I don't need to be babysat anymore!"

The pressure on her ear lessened as Carla's hand fell slack, she let it drop to Eren's face and dropped her other hand from her hip to do the same, cupping Eren's cheeks. She leaned her head down and tilted their foreheads so that they were touching.

"You know I'm only saying this because I'm worried Eren. I'm not trying to upset you." She then moved her hands down and squeezed Eren into her chest. "It's so hard for me to leave you alone, my baby girl, I feel so anxious just thinking about it." She squeezed a bit harder, but let up when she felt Eren's arms wrap loosely around her.

"I know mom, but I'll be okay. I'm not a little kid anymore so don't worry so much." Eren buried her face closer into her mother as she whispered, "I love you."

Carla stepped back, releasing Eren from the hug as she walked over to an end table and grabbed a Kleenex tissue from the box. Her eyes watered as she looked at her daughter thinking, 'She's grown into such a beautiful young woman… sooner or later I'll have to let her go. This is just practice Carla. Practice.'

The rest of the night before Carla's morning departure consisted of both females running around their cramped, yet cozy apartment, cleaning and packing things. Carla left early in the morning, pausing to kiss Eren on the cheek, while she continued to sleep before her alarm woke her and she prepared to leave for school.

Three days later, Eren returned to the lonely apartment from her usual routine of waking, dressing, and going to school. When Eren got home that evening, she felt too lazy to cook anything for herself and had already finished off all the leftovers Carla had made. She decided to take a quick walk down the street to a little convenience store and buy a few ready to eat lunches and microwave meals.

* * *

><p>She'd just finished eating a premade, convenience store grade salad and sandwich, which she downed with a bottle of ice cold water. After sitting on the sofa for another hour, while the remnants of the meal she'd eaten lay wasting on an end table, Eren finally decided to start her chores. She'd honestly put them off the first several days and the apartment was beginning to smell from the decaying waste left in the trashcan.<p>

"I better start cleaning." She said aloud, allowing a dramatically deep sigh to escape her lips as she dragged herself to the kitchen to wash the few dishes and prepare the trash to, finally, be taken out. After another hour has passed, along with several dramatic eye rolls and groans, Eren had managed to gather enough trash to fill two large bags.

She experimented by trying to lift both, and decided to just carry one down, the smelliest one, and then take the other with her in the morning before she left for school. She picked up the smellier of the two offending bags and left her apartment, shutting the door snuggly behind herself and continuing on down the hallway to the elevator.

When the doors opened, she hit the button with a 'G' on it, for ground floor and waited as the elevator began its slow and noisy descent from the fourth floor to the first. After several annoying moments of dinging and metal sliding against metal, Eren finally exited the cramped, mobile space and made her way down another narrow hallway and into the room that connected the apartment complex and the alleyway. She set the bag down and fiddled with the door until she finally got it open and made it outside, stopping once again to let a groan escape as she saw how hard it was raining.

With a frustrated huff, she walked out into the rain and towards the giant blue metal dumpster, leaving the door propped open. She quickly surveyed the area to make sure that there were no animals ready to pounce on her for the trash, and hurried over to bin. She let out another annoyed sigh when she saw a shadowed form lying next to the dumpster thinking, 'Wow, someone was too lazy to actually throw it in.'

Then she got closer.

The faint light from the opened doorway allowed her to see that the crumpled form was not a pile of trash that one of the lazier occupants of her building decided to leave. No, it was a person. A man-a soaking wet man who looked like he was barely breathing.

Eren panicked and dropped the bag of trash, rushing over to the man's limp form. "Hey, are you okay?" She started, "Hello? Can you hear me?" She tried to shake him but the only thing she got in response was a weak grunt and barely audible "Fuck."

She looked around the alleyway and out towards the streets to see if there was anyone there who she could run to and ask for help, but she saw no one. It was late and pouring, of course there wouldn't be people just running around in an alley. Unless they were this guy apparently.

She gently and hesitantly placed her hands on the man's face, tilting his head up to see if he would respond better. Eren cradled his face in one hand while the other lightly tapped his cheek, trying to get a reply from him.

"Hey, can you hear me?" She paused when one of his eyes opened and then continued a bit louder, "Are you okay? Can you stand? You need to get inside, you're freezing." She continued to ask questions to try and get the man to comply.

His unfocused eyes shut and then reopened, a bit more aware of his situation. He began to pull himself off the ground, and Eren crouched beside him, trying to help the man stand. 'Wow he's really heavy,' she thought as her weaker body struggled to support the semi-conscious man. "Can you walk?" she asked, struggling to stay upright against his heavily leaning form.

Her only response was a weak tilt of his head, and the lessening of some of the weight on her narrow, child-like shoulders. She began to move forward slowly and felt a small smile splay on her face as she felt the man moving with her, supporting more of his own weight, but limping horribly.

The two finally made it back inside the building, while the trash was left, forgotten in the alleyway to be soaked in the downpour. It seemed like the man was becoming more aware when they'd finally made it to the elevator and then up to Eren's floor, because Eren felt a little less burden on her shoulders as he focused more on supporting his own weight.

'Thank God I didn't lock the door,' she thought to herself as she weakly turned the knob, almost causing them both to lose their balance as they made their way inside, though she nearly dropped the man onto her kitchen floor. She set him down, his upper body partly in the kitchen, while his lower body lay in the tiny entryway as Eren caught her breath and closed the door.

She went back to the man's side, placing her hands on his face once more to see if she could get him to speak. "Hey mister, you're gonna be okay now, I brought you inside and it's safe here." His eyes opened again, sluggishly looking around. They focused on her face for a moment, and then quickly fell shut again. Eren took this as his way of consenting and spoke again, a little softer than she previously had, "I'm going to go get some towels okay. You're soaking wet, so try and wake up so you can dry off." His eyes remained closed and a quiet "tch" escaped his pale and faintly blue lips.

Eren's eye widened when she realized just how pale the man was. He was pallid, wet, and there were visible signs of bruising as well as cuts and small gashes on the small amount of skin she could see. She hurried to her side of the apartment, running to her bathroom to pull out several large fluffy towels and a few smaller ones for his face. She stopped by the linen closet and grabbed a blanket as well before rushing back to dry, the now trembling man.

The first thing she did was dry his face off, and his long, tangled hair as best she could before she wrapped a hand towel around his head to help keep it warm. She then threw a large towel over the majority of his body, just to help keep the air off of him as she moved down towards his feet to remove his drenched boots.

She removed the boot from his right foot without a problem and took the sock along with it; she then dried it and wrapped it in another hand towel before moving on to the left one. Eren stopped and quickly lifted her hands away when she heard the pain filled "Huuuh" that escaped the barely conscious stranger's mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, are you okay, I'll stop." She quickly said.

"N-no… it's-s … okay," was the slow and labored response.

Eren hesitated a moment longer before returning, more gently, to the task of removing the boot and then finally the sock. Her eyes widened again at the sight before her. His left ankle was larger and puffier than the right one, inflamed and bruised. The bruising was past the yellow color that showed on his face, it was greenish, with a one spot turning a deep purple while the majority of the ankle and the immediate part of the foot connected to it was red and swollen. Eren sucked in a quick and nervous breath as she gently pat dried his injured foot. She didn't wrap it like the other one, choosing instead to the let towel just lay on top of it.

She moved up towards the rest of his body, removing the towel and trying to get the man to sit up. She managed to help him into an upright position, resting against the wall of the entryway while she nervously removed the soaking wet jacket and the button down shirt beneath it.

His body was just as pale and marred as his face. Scratches and bruises littered nearly every inch of his scarred flesh. There were large blotchy bruises on his ribcage, stretching from right under his left pectoral to his diaphragm. He also had a strange tattoo, right above his heart. It appeared to be a pair of overlapping, stylized wings. One was just outlined, allowing his pale and bruised skin to show through while the other was solid black.

Eren dried the rest of his body while trying as best as she could to be gentle and not aggravate his injuries. She then hurried to her mother's bathroom and pulled out the first aid kit hoping to find something to help dress his wounds. She found a tube of disinfecting and pain minimizing cream for cuts and scratches. Using this, she spread a generous amount on his face and upper body. She then sprayed his chest and arms with disinfectant spray and practically covered him with band aids.

She wrapped him loosely with the blanket and moved down to prop and cradle his injured ankle with the rest of the towels. She got a zipper bag from the pantry and filled it with ice, then placed that on the man's ankle and wrapped it loosely with towel to help keep it in place.

Satisfied with her first aid care, she rushed to her bedroom to look for her cell phone so she could call the police.

_"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" _

"Hello, I have an injured man in my apartment, I don't know who he is or where he came from but I found him and brought him inside because it was cold and raining and I tried to help his as best as I could but I'm home alone and he's injured really bad and please help…" Eren gushed to the operator, nearly bursting into tears as gravity the situation began to sink in.

_"Are you okay miss? How old are you?"_

"I-I'm fine. He's the one that's injured, I'm okay. Um, I'm twe- thirteen." She corrected herself, still not used to saying her new age.

_"Where are you sweetheart? I will send help as soon as I can."_

"I'm in Trost Apartments. Unit 401. It's the last apartment to the left on the fourth floor." Eren breathed out.

_"Okay, I'm connecting to the nearest unit that is in your area. Please stay on the line."_

Eren began to breathe heavily, nearly hyperventilating until the soothing voice on the other end of the line stopped and a gruff, male voice sounded through her phone, bringing her back to her senses.

_"Can you describe the injured person?"_

"U-um okay. He's pale, long black hair, um male… I don't know his eye color because his eyes don't stay open long enough. Um, he's kinda short and he has a weird tattoo of wings on his chest. I don't know if he has any others and I don't feel comfortable looking."

The line suddenly went silent.

"Hello?" there was no response. "Officer? Hello?" Eren began to panic; she removed her phone from her face and realized that the call had ended.

"Did they just hang up on me? No, wait, was the call dropped?" She sighed audibly and paced her living room briefly, before deciding to try and call back.

The second time she called she received a message stating that all the operators were currently busy with calls. 'Is that even possible?' She thought to herself, she looked back down to the phone screen and realized that it was nearing midnight, 'How are they busy this late?'

She let out a frustrated sigh and then threw her phone at the sofa. She cautiously approached the man, who'd come to during her fruitless calls.

"Hello…" Eren began, slowly approaching him, she was nervous because of how closely he was watching her. "Um… are you feeling any better. Do you want some painkillers?" She walked over to the supplement cabinet and fished out a small bottle of ibuprofen, opening it and putting three into the palm of her hand. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked back over to the man, offering him the pills and the drink.

She stood awkwardly for several moments before he parted his lips, and stuck out his tongue, indicating that he wanted her to drop them in his mouth since he was too weak to lift his arms and do it himself. It took Eren a few seconds to process what the man was doing, before she gingerly dropped the pills into his mouth and tipped the bottle of water to his lips for him to swallow.

"Thanks kid." He said, his voice was low and sounded rough.

"You're welcome." Eren said, offering a small smile, despite the strange situation she'd placed herself in. She squatted there for a little while longer, occasionally tipping the water bottle for the man to drink before she questioned him again, "Are you okay… or… no never mind, you don't really look too great." She stopped then looked back up at him, "Are you hungry?"

He gave a weak nod and watched her as she stood back up and walked back into the kitchen. He listened to her shuffling around, the tearing of paper, then of plastic, and then the beeping of a microwave. After several minutes passed, she walked back over with a small plastic bowl of meat and potatoes.

At first, she offered it to him, but then retracted it, choosing instead to get a forkful of the dish and offer that to him instead.

Levi opened his mouth to allow the girl to clumsily feed him, all the while watching her closely, as his body warmed and he became more alert and focused in this new, safer environment. He would have called it pleasant if it weren't for the fact that he was too injured to even feed himself.

She alternated between feeding him and letting him drink from the water bottle until he'd finished both the microwave dinner and the drink. He began to let his eyes shut again, as the girl wandered away into what he assumed was her bedroom.

He awoke abruptly when she returned and gently nudged him. "Do you think you can stand mister?" she asked politely, pointing towards a little pallet she'd made for him on the floor.

Levi offered a curt nod, and with a pained grunt, lifted himself and limped over to the pallet in the middle of the living room, with the help of the girl. She helped him lay down and then covered his body; she propped his injured ankle up on a pillow and covered his feet with a shorter blanket. She even helped him adjust his head on the large fluffy pillow she'd laid out for him.

"Please rest up, I'm gonna try and find help again in the morning, so for now, I'm sorry, just bear with it." Levi nodded, and finally let his heavy eyelids drift shut. That night he dreamt of being saved by a young, angelic girl, with lovely and kind emerald eyes.

* * *

><p>When Eren awoke the next morning, snug and warm in her bed, she realized that she'd slept through her alarm and was over two hours late to school. She also remembered having the weirdest, and oddly realistic, dream. She'd dreamt that she found an injured man near a dumpster and that she tried to nurse him back to health.<p>

As she got ready for her day, already deciding to skip out on school since she'd already missed two, going on three of her six classes, she walked out of her bedroom and into the living room. She lazily scanned the room, yawned and continued into the kitchen, to make herself and the sleeping man something to eat.

….

'IT WASN'T A DREAM?'

Eren stopped pouring milk into the bowl and stood staring; mouth agape at the slumbering stranger on her living room floor. She decided to just accept that is was nothing more than the act of a Good Samaritan, which hopefully wouldn't lead to her premature death.

She ate her cereal and decided to make some oatmeal for the man, whose grunting had started again, so she assumed he was waking up. She finished the mash and prepared a few more painkillers along with another bottle of water and walked over to sit on the sofa and wait for the man to wake up.

Within a few minutes of sitting there, she noticed movement under his lids, and then his eyes opened. He surveyed the room and then focused his gaze on Eren, allowing his predicament to set in before he slowly lifted his protesting body up.

Eren was by his side in an instant, helping to stabilize him and let him rest against the sofa for support. She set the bowl into his lap and offered him the pills, which he accepted and downed himself this time.

"Thank you." He said, this time, with a smoother quality to his voice.

She answered with a small smile on her lips, "You're welcome." She stood and started towards her bedroom before pausing and coming back to stand near the man, "Um," she started, feeling nervous and embarrassed at that the thought that ran through her mind at that moment.

"Hmm?" He hummed lowly, looking up to study the girl's features.

"Well, I was just gonna offer to brush your hair, if you want, that is, since it's kind of tangled and probably bothering you? I mean if it's not that okay, I know that's a weird thing to say..." she clamped her eyes shut and fisted her hands in her shirt, entirely embarrassed by her own words.

The man chuckled and offered the girl a small smile, "I'd really appreciate that actually, thank you."

Eren stared at him a moment while his words processed, then a wide grin spread across her face and she nodded before hurrying to her room. She returned shortly with a hair brush and a plain black hair band, then settled behind the man and got to work on untangling his surprisingly soft and silk black hair. Eren finished with his hair, tying it in a low ponytail while he quickly finished the oatmeal and laid back down into his makeshift bed.

This continued on for the rest of the day, he'd sleep, and then wake up to eat then lay back down to rest. Eren had given up on trying to contact the police. It was like they'd suddenly blacklisted her number. She searched on the internet what to do about an injured ankle, and realized that her first aid kit had all the things she needed to dress the man's injury.

She let the ice set on it for half an hour and then removed it and wrapped it as best she could, so that it was compressed and the swelling would go down. That night, Eren fell asleep on the sofa, exhausted from caring for her peculiar, injured guest.

* * *

><p>When Levi awoke the next morning, it was just before dawn and still dark. He pulled himself into a sitting position, feeling much stronger and well rested than he had been, though his body still ached and his ankle protested. He rewrapped his foot, allowing him to stand and hopefully walk without alarming any passerby's of his injury.<p>

He removed the covers from himself and noticed the shivering girl sleeping on the sofa right next to the pallet he'd used as a bed on the floor. He smiled fondly, and gently stroked the hair out of her face. He covered her with the blankets she'd used for him, and tried as best he could to dress without making a sound.

Right before he cracked open the door; he gave the girl's sleeping figure one last, long glance and then exited, closing the door and soundlessly venturing into the early morning light.


	3. By Simple Coincidence? - Part 1

**Chapter Two – By Simple Coincidence? – Part 1**

~~~~~~~~~~~~ _Four Years Later_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Eren, wake up you're going to be late to class." Carla Yeager yelled through her teenager's locked bedroom door. She glanced down at the time on her cell phone and she cursed to herself, 'I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon, I'll call Eren to make sure she's up when I get to the parking lot.'

She decided to knock lightly a few more times, hoping to rouse her seventeen year old daughter from her slumber. Carla never like it when Eren locked her door, it annoyed her to no end, but she still tried to keep her temper under control. Eren was almost an adult, and soon she'd be off to college, meet someone nice, and start a life with a family of her own. Carla sighed as she knocked on the door one more time, "EREN! GET UP!" she screamed through the door, trying to keep her voice as soft, yet stern as possible.

She wasn't angry with her daughter, but when she raised her voice, she couldn't help but notice how irritated it sounded. She decided to send her comatose daughter a text, hoping that she fell asleep with her cell phone ringer on while it charged over night.

Carla pulled on a light jacket and walked out of the door towards the elevator, on a straight path to her van. When she was finally in her vehicle, buckled up, and on the road, she started to think back to Eren, hoping that she at least woke up and made it to the last week of classes before she had her fall exams. Winter break was soon, she knew Eren, as well as every other student in the country around the same time, was exhausted.

She thought back to Eren's childhood, remembering her sweet and rounded young face, so childish and innocent. 'They grow up so fast. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was changing her diapers, and then I blinked, and she was already a young woman.' She let thoughts such as this consume her mind as she neared her work place, and finally pulled into the parking garage. She parked and sent Eren another text, hoping that she would wake up in time to at least catch the bus.

When Carla got out of the elevator and made it to her desk, she felt her phone vibrate.

**[Received 7:59 AM]** **Eren:** _Thanks for the text mom.. I slept through my alarm. and I'm gonna be late to my first class, because I have to walk, so don't be surprised if you get a letter about my attendance. I'm going over to Mikasa's later, so I won't be there when you get home. Love you._

She smiled as she read through the message. "Oh Eren, what would you do without me, you silly girl."

She typed back,

**[Sent 8:02 AM] ** _I love you too Eren. Be careful on your way, don't talk to strangers and don't make eye contact with anyone. Also, take a few extra bottles of water with you just in case you notice someone who needs one._

About twenty minutes passed before Carla felt her phone buzzing again.

**[Received 8:27 AM] Eren:** _How the heck can I notice if anyone needs anything if I'm not supposed to look at people? I'm on my way now, text you when I get there, unless I forget. I have an extra bottle and snacks. _

Carla laughed at the message, set her phone down, and went back to writing the email she'd been working on to the president of the pharmaceutical branch, at the request of her boss, the CEO of the branch. 'I hope Eren makes it alright.' She gave her personal thoughts one last moment before she returned to the task at hand, planning the business trip for spring of the coming year.

* * *

><p>Eren jumped out of bed when she saw the time on her phone. "Oh shit I'm going to be late again." She rushed to her bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to help wake herself up.<p>

She brushed her teeth, put on a thin line of eyeliner and a quick coat of mascara, then threw her clothes off and rushed back to her bedroom to find clean underwear. After several more minutes of her running back and forth between her bathroom, bedroom, and closet, she was finally dressed, groomed, and ready to go.

She paused to grab her wallet and place it, and her cell phone, into her gray canvas cross body bag, along with an extra water bottle and a few snack bars just in case she ran into any homeless people on the way to school. Her mother always taught her to help those less fortunate including the injured, poor, and the homeless. Eren made her way out and started towards the elevator.

While riding down, she checked her messages and smiled when she saw her mom's reply. She quickly typed back that she already had extra snacks and water, and remembered to mention that she was going over to Mikasa's later. They planned on having a movie and junk food night to celebrate the 'almost end' of their last fall semester in high school.

She cringed when she saw the time on her phone after sending the message. 'I've already missed the first half of class… might as well skip the whole thing,' she thought as she walked out of her complex then crossed the street, she continued down the sidewalk to one of her most frequently visited stops.

'I'm hungry anyway,' she mused as she neared the little convenience store. She walked through the automatic sliding doors and made a beeline straight towards the coffee. She poured herself a small cup, added four sugars, and an indecent amount of creamer. She then turned and wandered towards the snack aisle, idly perusing while she sipped at her sweetened tar juice. Finding nothing appealing in the prepackaged snack food aisle, she walked over to the 'made fresh daily' display where she picked up a few fresh doughnuts, getting a chocolate glazed one for herself, glazed for Armin, and a few doughnut holes for Mikasa, who wasn't fond of too many sweets.

She finally made her way towards the counter to pay and set her selection down on the counter space then began digging through her bag to find her wallet. The new clerk was a younger man who looked to be in his early twenties or late teens, close to Eren's age.

A low whistle sounded, making Eren look up from her task of locating her wallet. Her brows scrunched in confusion when she saw the clerk lick his lips and whistle again. She turned around and looked behind her, trying to see if there was anything worth whistling at in the store. 'Hmm, there's just those two officers in here…what the heck is he whistling at?' she thought, turning back to meet the clerks amused face with a confused expression on her own.

"You're cute, come here often?" the clerk asked, resting an elbow on the counter as he leaned forward, getting closer and into Eren's personal space. He still hadn't touched her items.

"A-ah… yeah, I live down the street so I stop by a lot…I guess..." Eren answered nervously.

"So you're close by huh?" He said, pushing her items to the side as if they weren't what he was paid to ring up.

'Shit, Eren, you idiot why didn't you lie.' She cursed to herself, stepping back a bit from the counter. He just leaned forward a bit more, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"How old are you cutie?"

"S-seventeen." Eren stated, distancing herself further back from the counter. She wasn't even thinking about the other two occupants of the store, let alone considering the possibility that they might be standing behind her in line.

But one of them was. A short, black haired man with a decorated uniform and a police cap to complete the look. He had a gun holstered to his right hip and a baton to his left. He stood, a short distance from Eren, watching the display unfold before him, his unoccupied hand was clenched into a tight, shaking fist, while his other held a steaming cup of black coffee.

Eren backed up far enough to bump into this man, accidentally of course, causing him to drop his steaming cup; it splashed on his pant leg and Eren's burgundy tight covered calves.

"Shit!"

"Ahh!"

The two shouted simultaneously. The officer jumped back and Eren jumped forward and back towards the creepy clerk at the counter.

She turned around and saw that she caused the officer to spill his coffee. Eren blanched, mouth opening in silent terror as she tried to remember how to speak so she could apologize to him.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-" he cut her off with his hand directly in her face.

"Calm down, it's just coffee. It's not your fault anyway kid." He said, directing his malicious stare to the man behind the counter, who acted as if nothing had even happened while he started to ring Eren up.

"That will be $5.86 babe." The clerk stated, completely ignoring the situation that he caused.

Eren turned and glared at the man, "Can I have some napkins please?" The clerk rolled his eyes and threw a small towel into Eren's outreached hand. She didn't even bother thanking him.

She turned around and bent down, trying her best to dry off the officer, who stood there, watching her pat his leg dry. "You shouldn't be the one doing this," he said, staring down at her crouched form, "that asshole should be over here cleaning up this mess," He stated, looking up only for a moment to send an icy glance at the man, making him shudder, before looking back down at the girl. He bent down and stilled her hands. "It's alright," he said as he met her wide and nervous eyes, grabbing the towel from her hand and throwing it on the coffee soiled floor. He rose, holding onto her arm to lift her with him.

Among many of the things Eren's mother instilled in her from a young age, including bringing extra items such as water bottles or granola bars to offer to someone who looked hungry or parched, she was taught to never, ever, cross a police officer. They were to be respected and treated with kindness, but most importantly, she was taught never to argue with one, because that could only go wrong.

Eren stood, locking her eyes with her shoes while the shorter officer continued to hold her forearm with a firm grip. "Grab your things and get going," he said as he released her arm.

She looked up from her shoes with a questioning expression, searching for an explanation. She found none.

The officer walked over to the counter and grabbed the bagged doughnuts and the cooling coffee and put them into Eren's hands. "I said to go." He stated more firmly, pushing Eren towards the door with a flick of his hand between her shoulder blades.

"But I haven't paid for these yet?" she said, turning around. She stopped when she saw the angry look on the officer's face.

"Go." He said more firmly. He then directed his attention to the punk behind the counter who was still watching Eren, he winked at her, and pursed his lips into a mocking kiss, completely ignoring the short officer and the tall blonde that had approached the scene.

Eren nodded and darted out of the store, she gasped when she got outside, feeling the wintry air make the wet stain on her tights cold. "Shoot," she said, turning back towards her apartment to go and change.

Levi turned and watched as Eren hurried towards her apartment, then he turned back to the counter and grabbed the collar of the punk clerk. "Look here you little fuck, talk to that girl again and I swear I will find you and fuck you up," he hissed into the man's ear.

The clerk froze for a moment, but then smirked, "I wouldn't do that if I were you bub," he said smugly, "that is if you know what's good for you." He grabbed Levi's wrist and tightened his hand around it, to try and loosen his grip. Levi just jerked the man forward more, knocking him against the counter before throwing him back and releasing him. He dug into his back pocket and pulled out a few bills to pay for a coffee, some doughnuts, and to cover the girl's expenses.

The clerk angrily accepted the bills, a grimace plastered on his face during the entire exchange. He handed the officer his change and leaned forward, turning his head to the side to reveal a tattoo of overlapping wings at the base of his neck, "You're going to regret this you son of bitch," he hissed back, his voice low and full of malice. He straightened his collar and walked into the back of the shop to get cleaning supplies to finally do his job, and deal with the mess he partially caused.

"Levi?" the blonde officer questioned.

Levi huffed, glaring at the old but familiar emblem and walked back towards the coffee station to pour himself another cup. He and Erwin, his patrol partner, exited the convenience and made their way back to the parked squad car.

"What was all that about?" Erwin questioned again.

"Nothing, I just don't like it when pigs think it's okay to approach angels."

Erwin raised a thick blonde brow at the mention of 'angels,' but said nothing more as he walked around to the driver's side and slid into the vehicle. He and Levi sat in the car without speaking, listening only to the sound of reports from the radio, and each other's breathing which was interrupted by the occasional sound of chewing or sipping of coffee.

Levi perked to attention when he saw the girl crossing in front of the alleyway that he and his partner were parked in. He set his drink down and jumped out the car, walking towards her.

"Hey, kid," he started; he looked down and noticed that she'd changed her soiled burgundy tights to forest green ones. "Why aren't you in school right now?"

Eren froze when she heard the stern voice behind her, she turned to see the officer she'd spilled coffee on earlier, and mentally cursed. 'It looks like I'm going to miss second period too...'

"U-um, I actually woke up late sir, my mom already left for work and I missed my bus so I have to walk..." she said tensely. She directed her gaze back down, trying to avoid looking directly at the intensely glaring officer.

"Do you need a ride?"

Eren looked up, a look of surprise adorning her features. She allowed the offer to process for a moment while she weighed her options, 'decline and continue walking in the cold for 30 minutes and miss half of second period or accept and spend 5 minutes in a warm car with a police escort?' she smiled a little and looked up at the officer, nodding and saying, "Wow, that would be great, thank you."

He nodded once and turned around, "Alright, follow me kid."

He opened the back door to the squad car and let her slide in. "The back seat is meant for criminals, so don't freak out when you can't open the door alright? I'll let you out when we get there." She nodded and he closed the door, and then sat into his own seat.

She watched him exchange a few whispered words to his partner and then turn to address her, "What high school are we taking you to?"

"Maria High," she said, sitting back and relaxing as best she could into the cool leather seating of the squad car.

The remainder of the ride was silent, save for a few alerts and messages being sent across the radio. When they arrived to the drop off zone, true to his word, Levi exited the car and opened the door for Eren to get out. "Be careful on your way home." He said before closing the door and returning to his own seat.

Eren nodded and hurried towards the entrance, hoping she would make it before second period started. Levi sat and watched her retreating form, until she was through the dark tinted glass doors, and no longer visible. He turned to Erwin and nodded, letting him know that he could drive away and return to their patrol.

* * *

><p>Eren's day passed smoothly compared to her rough morning. She made it to second period before the late bell rang, and even remembered to text her mom and let her know she'd made it to class. She got through the rest of her morning classes, had a small lunch, and then powered through her afternoon classes, counting down the time until the last bell rang and she was on her way to Mikasa's for a pizza and party night.<p>

The trio arrived at Mikasa's and ordered a couple of pizzas and different sodas to supply them for their evening. Eren offered her friends the doughnuts she'd gotten earlier in the day and they ate them with gratitude while she told them about the creepy clerk and scary, but kind officer who saved her. The night passed on until it began to get late and Eren knew she would have to head home soon.

The trio said their goodbyes, Mikasa returned to her house while Eren headed back towards her apartment in the opposite direction of Armin's grandpa's house. Halfway to her home, she heard her phone ding; indicating that she'd received a text.

**[Received 8:34 PM] Mom:** _ We're out of milk and eggs, do you mind stopping by the store on your way home? I'm in the middle of something and I don't want to ruin it._

Eren sighed and crossed the street, not even bothering to respond to her mom's text.

Soon after she crossed over, the neon glare of the convenience stores lights came into view. Eren quickened her pace and walked into the store, picking up a jug of milk and a carton of eggs. She hurried to counter and paid, thanking the clerk, who was older, and much more courteous than the man who had the earlier shift. She made her way of the store and back towards her complex, hurrying the whole way because something was bothering her. 'I feel like I'm being watched' she thought to herself, while frantically pressing the elevator button, vainly hoping that it would make the old contraption go faster. She didn't feel relief from the feeling of being watched until she made it to her floor and walked into her apartment, dead bolting the door and putting the items up before hurrying to her bedroom and locking the door.

* * *

><p>The odd feeling she had of being watched was not an invention of her young imagination.<p>

She was in fact, being watched.

Watched by a dark haired officer who was off duty. A dark haired man who'd just finished wiping the blood off his knuckles after he nearly beat a young member of his old syndicate to death in the alleyway across from Eren's apartment complex.

Levi kicked the limp, and bloodied form, further into the alleyway, preventing any passerby from seeing the mangled face of the punk convenience store clerk. He cracked his knuckles as he watched Eren enter her building and dash towards the elevator. He left the alleyway and walked towards the building himself, slipping in through the doors and glancing down the hall to watch Eren enter the elevator.

When she entered and the door closed, he walked over and stood in front of it, making sure that the number '4' lit up. When the circle of light stopped at floor four for a few moments, Levi turned and exited the building, satisfied that Eren had made it home unscathed for the night.

He was more than ready to bathe to get the smell of alley and trash off of him. Since his shift ended at work, he'd stationed himself outside Eren's complex and waited for her to return. He had grown concerned since it was already dark out and she'd hadn't come back, and that was when he noticed the familiar face of the asshole clerk, lurking across the street from Eren's place. He briefly thought to call his station and report the suspicious activity, but then he quickly disregarded the idea and decided to take matters into his own hands, it's not like the police would try and fuck with the legion anyway.

He beat the kid near to death and warned him if he ever caught him or any of the other members anywhere near Eren, he'd kill them on the spot.

Levi stalked towards his hidden car, parked behind one of the buildings abandoned by the legion, and drove home to shower and try to rid himself of the unpleasant, but growing urge to lock Eren away for her own safety.


	4. By Simple Coincidence? - Part 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much, the reception for this fic has been astounding! If you have any questions or find anything confusing, then please feel free to leave your questions and I'll be happy to clarify things for you! **

**Rowan Maxwell: I have a kink for officer Levi so I just had to include both, I'm glad you like it :3 Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy the latest installment! **

**Chapter Three – By Simple Coincidence? – Part 2**

_~~~~~~~~~ One Month Later – Winter Break- ~~~~~~~~~_

"Eren, where do you want to go?" Mikasa asked her friend as they walked down the street, slowly distancing themselves from Eren's apartment complex.

"I was thinking of getting some lunch or something. What about you guys?"

"Hmm, food sounds good," Armin spoke up, "but can we go somewhere cheap? I'm pretty much broke until my next paycheck." He grinned at the girls as they nodded their heads in approval.

"Sounds great," Eren added, "but, let's steer clear of the convenience store, there's a weirdo that works there and he gives me the creeps." To make her point, Eren hugged herself and shivered, turning back to look at her friends with an apologetic smile.

"Alright," Armin started, "why don't we try somewhere downtown? It's been a while since we've gone." He looked to the girls for approval.

"That could be fun," Eren winked and added, "we can do some window shopping too."

Mikasa nodded and the three of them started on their way to the closest bus station. After waiting fifteen minutes for the bus and purchasing passes, the trio was on their way to downtown Shiganshina for a cheap, but filling, bite to eat, and an evening of wandering through the many unique boutiques, shops, and the outdoor museum that the arts district had to offer.

Several hours later, the trio began slowly making their way back the bus station, pausing every once in a while to look into shops that they skipped or looked over on their little outing.

It was nearing 9 PM and they collectively decided that it was too late for them to continue their wanderings; they headed straight for the bus and within an hour, were finally within walking distance of Eren's apartment.

After one block, they were nearing the ominous store that Eren had refused to go to since the incident two months earlier. After another block and a half, they had safely passed the store and were feet away from Eren's complex.

Just as they'd walked up, and nearly passed the dark alleyway, Eren heard a familiar and disturbing call.

"Ain't it bit late for you to be out alone babe?" Eren froze, alarming her two companions who stopped and looked into the alley, searching for the owner of the voice.

"Eren?" Mikasa drew closer to Eren's side, standing slightly in front of her in a protective manner. Armin followed in suit, standing between the two girls and the mysterious aggressor whose form was obscured by the shadows.

"Yea," Eren breathed out, the shock from hearing the voice finally fading. She gripped onto Mikasa's coat sleeve and squinted, trying to find the voices' owner. She took a step forward, still holding onto Mikasa and gripped the back of Armin's jacket to pull him further from the dark space. "W-who's there?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Aww, I'm hurt, you don't remember me cutie?" the voice questioned in a patronizing and sarcastic tone.

"No, I don't," Eren stated more firmly, holding her friends closer as she started to slowly move away from alley. "Just leave me alone okay? I don't want any trouble." She continued to speak as they neared the edge of building. She gently gripped and pulled on the collars of her two companions, whispering "Get ready to run to the door okay, I think this is that freak from before."

They both gave a quick nod and then turned their bodies to face away from the alley and towards the entrance to the complex. Eren took a quick breath and was about to give the signal when the voice cut her off.

"You know I could hear that you little bitch." The voice hissed.

Eren's eyes widened and she nudged her friends forward and shouted, "Now!"

They immediately ran towards the door, Mikasa in lead while Armin followed closely behind. Eren however, was caught by the braid she'd asked Mikasa to do for her before they left on their escapade.

"AHH!" Eren screamed in pain as the grip on her hair tightened and she was pulled back towards the dark alleyway. "Let me go damn it!" The more she pulled away, the more the ripping sensation of her roots separating from her scalp increased.

"LET GO YOU ASS-" a hand was roughly slapped over her mouth and she was lifted from the ground, kicking, and biting at the assaulting figure.

Mikasa and Armin heard her scream and ran back to the alley, Mikasa jumped on the man who held Eren off the ground. She wrapped her arms around his neck to try and cut off his air supply, at least long enough for him to drop Eren.

Armin joined the scuffle by tackling a man that tried to pull Mikasa off of the tallest assailant.

Mikasa finally succeeded in getting the man to release Eren and kneed the man in the back, then kicked the back of one of his knees to force him down.

Eren fell to the ground when the man released her and she jumped up, turning around and kicking the man in the gut. He doubled over in pain from the assault from behind and in front.

"Eren go call the police!" Armin shouted from his position on the ground, he'd managed to keep the tackled man down, but was being steadily overpowered by the struggling man beneath him. Eren ran out of the alleyway while fumbling around in her purse for her phone. She pulled it out and started to dial the three digit number. Just as the operator's voice broke through the call, Eren's wrist was tightly gripped and the phone fell from her hand as she was pulled back into the darkness.

Her screams were muffled by a smelly piece of cloth that prevented her from biting her attacker. She started to writhe and kick, but he just tightened his grasp around her and pulled her further into the shadows. Panicking, Eren looked around to see how her friends were faring; the fear she already felt increased as she saw two men holding Mikasa down while another kicked her in the stomach, and at the same time, another man held Armin up against a wall and viciously punched his face. Tears began to swell in Eren's eyes as she looked away from the violent scene and tried to struggle out of her attackers grasp again, her screams, and cries stifled by the cloth.

"I asked you while you were out and alone so late babe," rancid, hot breath assaulted Eren's senses while her captor snickered against her neck, "that was your queue to ditch the dweebs, you could have saved them, but I think this show is much better," he forced her face back towards her friends, Armin's arms were limp at his sides while his face was a bloodied mess of torn flesh and matted, blood stained blonde locks. Mikasa was still struggling, spitting obscenities and curses even as blood dribbled down the side of her mouth.

"Once the show is over, I'm gonna take you back to my place and we'll have a little party of our own," he snickered and licked along the shell of Eren's ear, breathing his rotten breath over her face, "how's that sound, huh?" he punctuated his words with a rough thrust against her backside, "Maybe I'll even let the boys over there join in." He tightened his grip around Eren's shaking body.

'Someone, anyone please help!' she cried desperately, praying that someone would at least save her friends. Her body shook with fear, both for her friends who might not live through the night and for whatever prospects the future held for her if this man was not stopped. As if answering her prayer, the tight grip on her body slackened and the repulsive laughter that had filled her ears ceased.

The hand that tightly gripped the cloth to her face fell, along with the limp form of her perverted attacker.

Eren quickly rushed towards the man assaulting Mikasa. Her tear filled eyes were wide and wild as she attacked the man. Lacking any coordination, she shoved him away from Mikasa and kicked and scratched at him.

The man had clearly had enough of her childish and amateur fighting style. He drew out a knife and offered Eren a wide and ominous grin, then rushed towards her terror stricken form with a mad glint in his eye.

Eren threw her hands up and over her face, to brace for the impact and to hide from the manic look of her new assailant as he ran towards her.

Then she heard a gunshot.

Then one, two, three more following the first.

Eren's eyes flew open and she dropped her hands to her sides. She surveyed the area, still shaking from fear. The man with the knife lay lifeless and crumpled, mere centimeters from Eren's shoes. She quickly turned and looked to Mikasa, and saw that the two men who had been holding her were equally as lifeless and laying on the ground, a similar scene for the man who'd beaten Armin to a pulp.

Eren searched for the owner of the gun and noticed a slight form at the back of the alley. She turned and looked over to it, eyes still full of tears, watching as the form rushed towards her. She quickly turned away and ran to Armin's side, lifting him off the ground, resting his beaten face in her lap.

"A-Armin?" she whimpered out. Her fingers ghosted over his forehead, gently pulling the blood matted hairs away. "Hey?" she spoke in a whisper, her voice still weak from screaming and crying. One eye slowly opened, revealing the reddened and aggravated cloudy blue orb. "Armin? Oh thank God, oh my God, Armin." Eren began sobbing, gently cradling her barely conscious friend in her lap.

The sound of several sirens broke Eren from her trance. She finally looked up from her position and began to register her surroundings. She heard two male voices behind her and immediately tensed, fearing that there were more thugs hiding out in the alleyway.

"Erwin, you take care of this one, I'm going to go check on the others."

Eren turned around and watched as the man from the back of the alley, the one who shot the thugs, ran over to her direction and kneeled at her side. Eren instinctively held Armin closer to her, lowering her body defensively.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." The man… no officer spoke, Eren realized that he was in a uniform and he had a badge. He held his hands up to show that he meant her no harm while she studied him for a moment longer.

Her eyes widened when she finally recognized him. "Y-you..."she weakly said, "you're that officer."

"Yes, from the convenience store. I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner Eren. I'm so, so sorry." Levi looked down to the ground, feeling too ashamed to even look her in the eyes.

Eren was surprised by the pained look the officer held, but didn't question him on it. She was far too tired, finally feeling the fatigue wash over her after the traumatic experience.

"My friends," she looked over to Mikasa who was being placed on a gurney and strapped down by two paramedics, "please help them." Her eyes were filled with fresh tears as two other paramedics made their way over to her and Armin.

"They are going to be okay Eren, just let the professionals take care of them." Levi said gently, he didn't want to aggravate her already delicate temperament, "Can you stand?"

Eren watched as the men lifted Armin and placed him on the gurney, strapping him down and rolling him towards the back of the ambulance, in a manner similar to how they treated Mikasa, professional, efficient, and full of care. She sighed with relief as they were taken away. 'Thank you.' She prayed quietly, feeling her eyelids become even heavier.

She turned and looked at the officer, then down at the ground as she attempted to push herself up. Failing at this, she turned back and looked up to him, shaking her head apologetically.

"It's okay," he spoke gently; "I'm going to pick you up okay?" Levi waited for Eren to nod and give him permission to touch her, before placing an arm around her torso and sweeping his other arm under her knees. In one swift motion, he lifted her exhausted form from the cold, filthy ground of the alley. Her head swung loosely from the movement, and he readjusted his grip so she was leaning all her weight against him.

"Do you want to go home or to the hospital?" he questioned as he walked out of the dark space. After a few seconds of silence, Levi spoke up again, "Eren?" he looked to her face and was barely able to make out a weakly spoken "Home."

He strode past the paramedics and into her apartment building. Within a few minutes, he was in front of her unit, lightly kicking at the door, and waiting for her mother to answer.

He was silently thankful that Eren seemed physically unharmed, but was seething with rage at the filth that touched her. It was unacceptable, and it would never happen again.

He'd grown careless lately, having thought that his earlier warning had cut off the thug's advances towards Eren, but oh, how wrong he had been. And now her friends were in the hospital and he was standing in front of her apartment door once again. He'd always thought about what kind of situation would bring him back to this place, he'd often wondered about what it would be like to finally be able to return the favor to her… but now that he was getting the chance, he felt sick.

Levi felt sick with both the situation and himself. He actually liked the idea of her relying on him, he actually liked having her sleeping form in his arms, held tightly to his chest. She was safe there; she was safe with him, and only with him. This was becoming more and more apparent.

After a few more moments and radical thoughts passed through his mind, the door was unlocked and opened, revealing a kind looking and gently aged woman who looked down at her sleeping daughter with both shock and relief flashing across her tired features. Levi stepped inside and asked for permission to put her in bed before returning and telling Eren's mother of all that transpired. Eren needed to go to the hospital for a checkup as soon as she woke up, and then they were to stop by the police station to get her statement, and discuss possible surveillance in the future. Eren's mother treated Levi with kindness and respect, although she was somewhat suspicious of how he knew where her daughter slept, she listened and agreed to his instructions.

* * *

><p><em>~~~~~~~ 3 Months Since the Incident and the Beginning of the Surveillance~~~~~~<em>

"Levi, you need to calm down." Erwin stated calmly.

"How can I be calm?" Levi spat at his partner. "What the hell do you mean that we aren't doing surveillance anymore?"

"I mean exactly what I said, they've decided to cancel the watch, we can't very well shadow that girl and her friends for the rest of their lives, it makes no sense. They seem to be out of danger anyway."

"Yea, they _seem_ to be, they also _seemed_ to be fine the night they were attacked Erwin. As soon as those shit head punks see that we've stopped watching those damn brats, you know they're going to try and retaliate."

"Levi, it is not our job, no, it's not _your_ job to protect one person and neglect the rest of the city. We protect the people, the civilians, and the greater good of the city. We aren't mercenaries or body guards Levi, we're law enforcement officers." Erwin's tone remained steady and firm.

Levi's anger was apparent in his eyes, he glared at his partner with silent rage as his chest rose and fell methodically with quick, heavy breaths.

"You need to listen to me on this one; you're already on a short leash with the superiors for how you handled things that night. You shot four people and killed three of them. Only one of the dead men had a weapon. Things aren't looking too good for you right now. Besides, you seem to lose your head whenever that girl is involved. I suggest this for both your sake and hers, take some time off and cool down Levi. You need it."

Levi looked up at his partner, rage boiling down as he thought of the pros of taking his accumulating vacation time. 'If I take vacation…then I can protect her without the force watching my every move…' this thought cleared the rest of the anger from his system. He sat down and calmly looked up at his partner, "Yea. I need a fucking vacation. And a drink."

The two laughed off the joke while Levi started to plan how _his_ surveillance would go.

* * *

><p>"Eren, are you sure you're okay being alone?" Carla questioned her daughter the night before her departure for the site inspection. It had been a little over three months since the incident, and Cara was worried that Eren was still too vulnerable, even with the police assuring her that Eren and her friends were safe.<p>

"Yes mom," Eren looked up from her math homework, "I'm almost an adult, I'll be okay."

Carla rolled her eyes and walked over to sit next to her daughter at the dining room table, "I realize that Eren, I was the one who had you," she playfully nudged her daughter's arm and smiled when the slight frown on Eren's face twitch up, "you'll be 18 in a few weeks, so yes, in the eyes of the law you're an adult, but that doesn't mean anything. You're still a child- my child- and I still worry about you so much."

Eren stood from her sitting position and walked over to her mother's sitting form, "I know…I worry about you too ya know?" Eren hugged her mother and kissed her forehead. "I'll be fine, I promise. I won't leave unless it's for school and I'll always be back before dark okay? It's just a three day thing right?" Eren half-sat in her mom's lap, still supporting most of her own weight so she wouldn't crush her mom's legs. She snuggled into her mother's neck and stayed there while Carla spoke again.

"That's right, it's just three days, so I'll be back before you know it." Carla squeezed her daughter closer and kissed her on her cheek. "Okay Eren, I trust you, but you better call me when you leave the house, get to school, leave school, and get home."

Eren rolled her eyes and slid out of her mom's arms, "Okay okay, I got it, but can I text you instead? I'd prefer that."

Carla locked her with a stern look, "I have to hear your voice once a day to know for sure if you're okay, so at least call me during one of those times, okay?"

Eren smiled and nodded, walking over to the table and grabbing her finished math homework. "Deal. You should go to bed though; doesn't the car come really early?"

Carla laughed and stood, "Yes it does, and we should _both_ go to bed," she gently brushed a few loose strands of hair behind Eren's ear, "goodnight sweetheart."

"Night mom," Eren smiled and then headed towards her bedroom to retire for the night.

* * *

><p>Carla silently walked through the apartment and peeked into her sleeping teen's bedroom; she tiptoed over to Eren's bedside and pushed the messy brown strands off of her forehead. She placed a light kiss on the cleared space and whispered, "I love you Eren." She tiptoed back out and looked at her daughter for a few more moments before gently shutting the door and leaving the apartment.<p>

The driver was waiting for her downstairs, he'd come inside to help her with her bags. He opened the back seat to allow her to get into the vehicle while he did so. It was the same driver and company that Carla's workplace normally used; they were decently priced, very efficient, and professional. Carla often looked forward to seeing this driver, as they would both talk about their children, both bragging about how amazing and loving they are.

The driver started towards the airport and their conversation began. After several minutes of casual and familiar chat, they reached the first intersection. The lights were flashing yellow for the driver, and flashing red for the perpendicular line of traffic. The driver paused, and then started to pass through the intersection; he introduced the topic of their children and started to ask about Eren's well being.

He was cut short as a junked car sped out of a vacant lot, and straight into the driver's side of the vehicle that held both the driver and Carla.

When the paramedics and police units arrived, both Carla and the driver were pronounced dead on the scene. The body of the driver from the car that t-boned their vehicle was not recovered.

* * *

><p>Eren awoke to the sound of loud pounding against the front door. She groggily sat up, using the base of her palms to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she threw the covers off and slid her house shoes on. Shivering from the loss of heat, she grabbed a blanket and draped herself in it before heading to the door.<p>

In her still half-asleep state, she didn't even check in the peep hole to see who was pounding so mercilessly at her door. She opened it just enough for her head to fit through.

"Ms. Eren Yeager?" the young officer asked, hand still held high and fisted, ready to assault the door with more knocks.

It took Eren a few moments to process that uniformed the man standing outside her entrance was an officer, and that she should probably answer him. "Hmm? Yes that's me," she yawned and opened the door wider, allowing full view of her blanketed body.

"Miss, I regret to inform you that your mother, Carla Yeager, is no longer with us."

Eren stared at the man like he'd suddenly sprouted another head. "W-what?" Eren said weakly. The officer looked at her and bit his lip, then spoke again.

"She was in a car accident this morning and both she and the driver were killed in the collision."

Eren felt her knees give out, and she fell to the ground, trying to process the information and remember how to breathe. She looked back up to the officer who stood at the doorway, stupidly staring at her with panic in his eyes. He was young and inexperienced; he wasn't sure how to deal with the girl in front of him.

"M-my mom is…dead?"

Eren's body shook and tears began to well in her eyes. "Noo…no…no…mom…no..." she crouched further down and wrapped her arms around herself.

She cried hard, tears staining her cheeks while she wailed and trembled in the entryway of her apartment.

The officer was reaching out his hand to try and console her but was stopped by firm grip on his wrist. He turned to face the owner of the hand and was startled to see officer Levi, dressed in casual clothing. Levi shook his head and motioned for the officer to leave the area. "I'll take care of her."

"B-but sir you can't-" The officer stopped when he saw the manic glare Levi fixed him with.

"I said, I'll take care of her." The younger of the two hastily nodded and darted towards the elevator.

Levi turned his attention to Eren's trembling form. He slipped into the apartment and shut the door, making sure it was locked before he kneeled next to her and lightly touched her back.

The sudden touch made Eren tense. She pulled her tear stained, and ruddy face out of her lap and looked up to see Levi. "Y-you?" She forced out between sobs.

"Shh, it's okay Eren, you're okay." He slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

She tensed again for a moment, then relaxed into his hold, her cries muffled into his shoulder as he pressed her closer. "You're okay, you're safe now, I'm here Eren…you're okay…it's okay." He whispered over and over, stroking her messy and tangled bed-head hair down with long soothing motions.

They stayed in that position, Eren wrapped in her blanket and Levi's arms while she cried until she couldn't cry any more. When her cries finally stopped, Levi gently pulled her away from his shoulder and held her face in his hands. Her cheeks were stained and ruddy, eyes red and swollen and her lips dry, and parted in a silent sob.

"Eren," she met his eyes with her own, too upset and drained to say anything, "you need to rest."

After a few more rough rises and falls of her chest, she slowly nodded then closed her eyes, silently granting him permission to take care of her.

Levi stood, gently coaxing Eren to do the same and allowing her to lean most of her weight on him. He walked with her to her room and helped her get into bed. When she was comfortably tucked in, he turned to leave the room and search for water.

Before he could leave her bedside, a weak grip on his shirt sleeve stopped him. He turned and looked down at to see Eren's fingers pinching his sleeve. "Please don't leave yet…I don't want to be alone." She weakly breathed out, a few more tears escaping her swollen and dulled eyes.

Levi's eyes widened a fraction and he quickly kneeled down at her bedside, he took her hand in his and gently stroked the hair out of her face. "I'm not leaving you. You need water, or you'll become dehydrated from crying so much. I was just going to bring you some." He wiped away a few of the tears that had freshly fallen.

Eren searched his face for any hint of lying and then nodded, releasing her grip on his hand and speaking, barely above a whisper, "There are a few bottles in the fridge."

Levi nodded and then stood, found the bottles and brought two back to the bedroom with him. He set the bottles on her nightstand and pulled her desk chair next to her bedside.

He helped her sit up and gave her a newly opened bottle to nurse on while he took a quick swig of his own. Eren laid back down and rolled over onto her side to face Levi. She lay there, watching him until she slowly fell into a deep, fatigue induced sleep. All the while Levi repeated aloud and to himself, "I'm not going to leave you… I'm here, it's okay… you're okay…I'm here…I'll protect you…you'll be safe with me."


	5. By Simple Coincidence? - Bonus

**A/N: Here's a not-so-mini bonus chapter. I felt that some clarification was needed so this should *hopefully* fill in all the holes have surfaced thus far. **

**Warning: it gets a bit graphic and there's also a far amount of recap. **

**Guest Reviewer: I know I cried a lot writing these last two chapters...and the next chapter. Sighs. Thanks for your support!**

**Chapter 3.5 – By Simple Coincidence?**

Levi sat at his desk, shuffling through paperwork in the open office space he shared with Erwin and several other officers from their department. He sighed and neatly put the papers he'd gathered together in one file, then place the folder back into the holder. He removed two other files and began to page through them, searching for any information that may useful in helping him locate the syndicate member he'd beat to a pulp in the alleyway two months prior. So far, he'd had little luck. He often returned to that corner store to see if the man would return to working there, he'd even asked the owner about him, but the owner claimed to know very little about his ex-employee and the man had never returned to the little shop since.

After reading through another file full of useless, and likely falsified information, Levi replaced all his research material and stretched in his chair, letting out a relieved sigh as the stiff vertebrae in his back popped and some of the tension was released.

He checked the clock on his desk and saw that it was nearing his time begin patrols. He double checked to ensure that his desk space was in order, then grabbed the keys to the squad car and walked over to meet Erwin. The two made their way out and to their designated vehicle, Levi threw Erwin the keys and their patrol began.

* * *

><p>It was nearing 10 PM by the time the duo made their final round. Levi insisted that they stop by the convenience shop, and Erwin reluctantly agreed.<p>

Erwin parked the squad car a car length away from the small store and he and Levi exited the vehicle. As they were walking towards the familiar neon lights of the shop, they heard a high pitched noise. Both men froze and shared a quick look before Levi joined Erwin's side.

"What the hell was that?" Levi asked his partner.

Erwin scrunched his thick blonde brows and replied, "I don't know, let's check it out."

Levi nodded and pulled out his gun, he removed the safety and then motioned for Erwin to follow him across the street and into the alleyway. As they neared where they believed the noise had come from, they paused, stopping to listen for anything that could help to clarify the situation.

Levi stood flush against the brick wall of the small passageway that connected two larger alley gaps. He held his gun up and then crouched as he tried to listen further. He managed to catch the end of a statement, "…we'll have a little party of our own…how's that sound, huh?" He slowly turned his head to peer around the corner.

His eyes widened and he clutched his gun firmly at the scene he saw. The punk ass he'd been searching for had his filthy hands gripped tightly around a young girl…no…around Eren. Then the pig laughed as he roughly dry humped Eren and all Levi could see was red. In his blind rage he missed that last thing that passed the thug's lips, "Maybe I'll even let the boys over there join in."

Erwin looked at the same scene but managed to keep his temper down; he wanted his head to be cool when he made his move. He tried to whisper the quick plan that he'd formulated to Levi, but before he could, the man was already darting towards the man nearest them that was holding and roughly handling a girl. Erwin took this moment to send a message to his office and alert them to bring in reinforcements and an ambulance.

Levi ruthlessly struck the back of the thugs head with his gun, then tightly gripped his neck and furiously kneed the man's back. He ripped the thug's body away from Eren as she fell from his grasp and smashed his face in with his gun. He threw the man face down on the ground and stomped on the base of his spine, hitting the same spot he'd previously kneed to weaken him.

After a few more rage filled stomps, Levi looked over to see that Eren had been backed against the wall by a man who held a knife. Levi cocked his gun and took aim, just as the man lurched forward to a defenseless Eren. He fired one shot and hit the man cleanly in the side of the head, feeling a ferocious satisfaction overrun him as the man fell to the ground and stained the already filthy alleyway with his rotten blood.

He then aimed his weapon at the two who still had a strong grip on the girl that Eren had risked herself to rescue. He fired once, then twice, hitting the first between the eyes and the second in the chest when he dropped the girl and tried to run away.

He fired one more bullet into the neck of the man who'd been bloodying the blonde on the wall. The man's hands left the blonde and clutched his neck to vainly try and stop the bleeding, after a few seconds of futility, the man fell backwards and joined the bodies that now decorated the alleyway.

The rage boiling in the pit of Levi's stomach was momentarily calmed when Erwin roughly gripped Levi's shoulder, pulling him out of his killer mode. Levi lowered his gun and quickly replaced it in his holster as he turned to his partner "Erwin, you take care of this one," he pointed to the body of the girl Eren attempted to rescue, "I'm going to go check on the others."

He turned on his heel and ran past the girl laying in the blood of her attackers, running straight towards Eren and the boy she held protectively in her shaking arms. Levi looked up for a moment to see that the paramedics and another squad had arrived, then he kneeled next to Eren and held up his empty hands to show that he had no weapons.

"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." He allowed Eren to search him over for a moment, so she could see that it was him, he wasn't going to hurt her, he cared for her, and wanted to help her. He watched her eyes widen slightly in recognition and he allowed himself to move a little closer to her.

"Y-you..."she weakly said, "you're that officer."

"Yes, from the convenience store." Levi scrunched his brows, frustrated at himself as he continued, "I'm so sorry I didn't get here sooner Eren. I'm so, so sorry." He looked down to the ground to avoid her wide, terror filled green eyes, feeling too ashamed to even look into them. 'It's my fault she's here, it's my fault she's holding her barely breathing friend…it's all my fault…I can't let this happen again…Eren I'm so sorry…I won't let it happen again, not this.' He mentally berated himself as he avoided her eyes.

Levi's negative stream of self-blaming thoughts were interrupted by Eren's shaky and hoarse voice.

"My friends…please help them."

Levi looked up at her to see fresh tears pooling at the corners of her eyes, overflowing and spilling down her ruddy cheeks. He then turned as he saw a pair of paramedics walking their direction with an unoccupied gurney in tow.

"They are going to be okay Eren, just let the professionals take care of them." He tried to say it as gently as possible, despite the rage and disappointment he still felt, "Can you stand?"

He watched as more tears spilled from her eyes as her friend was lifted out of her arms and taken away towards the ambulance. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and wipe her tears away and gently hold her close to him as he rocked her trembling form in his arms.

She tried to push herself up, but her legs were too weak to comply, after a moment or so more of her attempts, she looked up and shook her head, silent apologies written all over her face.

Softly he spoke, "It's okay," then scooted a bit closer to her, "I'm going to pick you up okay?"

He waited for her to give him permission to touch her. She nodded once and he placed a strong, sturdy arm around her torso and his other arm under her weak knees. In one swift motion, he lifted her angelic form away the filth that littered the alleyway. He quickly adjusted and let her head rest against his shoulder.

He asked her one last question, "Do you want to go home or to the hospital?"

After waiting a few seconds and getting no response, he softly called out, "Eren?"

She spoke, "Home," barely above a whisper, and he started towards his destination. After a few minutes, he was outside the familiar doorway and gently kicking at it in order to get her mother's attention.

As the moments passed while he waited for the door to open, Levi looked down into his arm and studied Eren, 'she's so cold, and fragile, I can't leave her alone.' He instinctively held her closer and tightened his hold, feeling his blinding rage return, 'this is all my fault, all this shit…if anything had happened to her… I should have just killed that stupid little fuck when I had the chance. No more chances, no more mercy.'

'I'm here now, I can return the favor to you. You precious innocent creature…my angel of hope,' he continued to stare down at her tear stained face, desiring nothing more than to wipe the tears away and wrap her up, warmly, comfortably, safely…to protect her from the ugly and cruel world that was blessed by her existence. Her eyes fluttered open, and he was met with hazy green, swollen pink eyes. She looked at him briefly and then saw her door and let her lids fall again, hiding her painfully beautiful treasures from the world.

He felt sick. He hated that she was so exhausted from the trauma she experienced, but also loved that she was finally in his arms. 'I won't leave her side again…this…no, soon she'll be an adult, she'll have to go off on her own, and I'll make sure she's never alone, even if she doesn't know it, I'll be there, right there, waiting for her…protecting her…loving-'

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened, a gently aged woman, with soft looking dark brown hair and kind brown eyes answered. She looked down and the kindness in her eyes morphed into shock, as her wide eyes took in the sleeping, slightly trembling form of her daughter. She opened the door wider and allowed Levi inside.

"Ma'am, may I take her to her room?"

"Y-yes, of course, it's straight down that way" she pointed across the living area, but Levi was already walking across and nearing the bedroom door. He turned the knob and pushed the door open with his shoulder, once inside, he removed the arm from under Eren's knees and let all her weight fall on him as he carefully balanced her against his chest. Using his free arm, he threw back the covers on her bed, then gently laid her down. He replaced the covers and gently brushed the hair out of her face.

His hand lingered on her head, as his fingers slowly trailed down her face. He wiped the few remaining tears that clung to her thick, dark lashes and stared down at her fatigued form for a moment longer. He leaned down near her face, and softly whispered into her ear as he returned to stroking her hair, "I promise I'll protect you Eren. So please, just stay where I can reach you." He stood and then walked back towards the door.

He exited her room and gently shut the door, then returned the front entrance to see her mother still standing there, with a relieved, but questioning look.

"What happened to her? I heard gun shots, where are her friends, oh my God are they okay?" Kalura began her stream of nervous questions.

Levi took a deep breath and answered her, "They were attacked by some thugs on their way back in the building. I recommend you not let her out of your sight for the next several weeks; I'll talk to my department about getting a unit setup to constantly survey the area, and possibly escort the kids to and from classes." He paused and let the information sink in, then continued on to answer the rest of her questions, "I was the one who fired the gun, her friends, a blonde boy and a black haired girl were beaten up pretty badly but they have already been taken to the hospital. Eren seems to be the only one physically unharmed, but I suggest you take her to hospital first thing in the morning just to make sure. I'd also like it if you brought her by later so she could give us her statement and discuss the details of the surveillance."

Eren's mother nodded and thanked Officer Levi for the information and agreed to comply with his instructions. She even offered to make him tea but he politely declined, saying that he had to go help with the cleanup. After a quick exchange of information, Levi was back downstairs and with Erwin, as the other officers came to question them on what happened, and why there were three dead bodies and two men in critical condition.

'Only three dead,' he thought as Erwin filled in the other officers on the situation, 'I thought I killed all of them…'

Levi cut into the conversation and informed the men that Eren Yeager's mother, Kalura, would be bringing Eren to the station sometime tomorrow, so Eren could give her statement and they could talk about heightened security in the area. Levi and Erwin excused themselves, and they returned to the station in a silent ride. Without any words, the two got into their own vehicles and drove their separate ways home, Erwin thankful that Levi hadn't killed all the suspects, while Levi was angered with himself for not sending all of Eren's attackers to an early, well deserved grave.

* * *

><p>Levi was finally feeling grateful that he hadn't killed all the thugs. Once the thug that he shot was out of harm's way, he was given the chance to interrogate him. He managed to milk out more useless than helpful information from the man, but the few useful tidbits he received helped him plan his movements for the next three months. The man he'd shot was soon released from the hospital and escorted all the way to prison to rot.<p>

The ass who'd manhandled Eren didn't fare so well, from Levi's fury fueled kicks and blows to his head, he was left with a severed spinal cord and heavy brain damage. The man was left in the ICU and Levi was not allowed to see him, though it was unlikely he'd ever regain enough clarity to answer any of Levi's questions anyway. He was paralyzed from the waist down and had trouble articulating and speaking. Levi was at least satisfied that the man would never live to see another normal day in his life, he would live in a perpetual hell of constant need and reliance, but never able to tell anyone exactly what it was he needed.

Using what little information he'd extracted from the imprisoned criminal and a few department resources, he was able to find the location of the legion's favorite new hideout. When he was off the clock and sure that Eren was at home and safe, he'd use the munitions provided by the department and break into the hideout, picking off a few members at a time for his own private interrogation and therapy session. When he wouldn't get any useful information from the unlucky members, he'd settle for beating them until they complied…or just died.

By the end of the second month, the legion had lost twelve members. One for every word Levi heard the man hiss to Eren.

It was nearing the end of his shift when Levi walked over to the main office to talk to his superior. He raised his hand to knock on the door and alert the man of his presence, but he paused, mid-air as he heard the hushed voices of the men behind the door. From what he could make out, one was definitely the police chief, but the other…it was…Erwin? Levi pulled his hand away from the door and leaned closer to try and listen in on the information.

_"…there's been an increase in break-ins and vandalism right around the area that we've been surveying. It's like they are mocking us…or retaliating. For what I don't know."_

_"So what do you suggest we do sir?"_

_"Our job is to protect the people, I know that this girl and her friends went through a hell of a trauma, but we cannot afford to waste anymore man power on guarding her and her friends, we're short staffed as is it Smith, you know that. At the end of the month I'm calling off the surveillance and I want you let Levi know that."_

Levi felt rage boil in his system at this information; he lowered his arm completely to stop his fist from shaking.

_"But sir, he's not going to take this very well…he seems to have some history with the girl."_

_"I don't care if he's fucking her or her mother, I want him off the case. He's too wrapped up in this legion business and we can't afford anger the leaders more than we have already. I've gotten reports that in the past two months alone, twelve members have gone missing and are likely dead. We can't have this kind of shit tied to our department."_

_"Sir I understand, but don't you think that it's a good thing to try and thin their numbers out?"_

_"Smith. I've been with this department for a long time, longer than you've been alive, and I am telling you, we do not fuck with the legion. Direct his attention elsewhere, give him time off, I don't care. Just get Levi off the fucking case, he's taking things too personal and that is more dangerous to us than the legion."_

Levi straightened out and tried to calm himself enough to knock on the door. He managed not to punch it, but the knock was anything but light.

The men in the room quickly straightened out and the police chief let out a gruff, "Come in."

Levi entered and regarded the nervousness in both men's eyes, "I just wanted to let you know I'm heading home for the night sir." His superior nodded and Levi directed his attention to Erwin, "I expect you'll fill me in later. Have a good night, _gentlemen_." He spat and turned on his heel, slamming the door with more force than necessary and leaving the two men to look at each other with alarmed expressions.

* * *

><p>Levi went about work as usual the next day, trying not to betray that he knew what Erwin the police chief had discussed the night before. The next two days were his off days, and he planned to spend every moment of them watching over Eren.<p>

The morning of his first day off, he sat outside her complex in his car, eating a light breakfast he'd made for himself to go. It was still bright and early in the morning when he saw Eren exit the building. After a few minutes passed, he started his car and drove down the street slowly, taking more time than he needed at each stop sign as he watched her get closer to the bus stop. He stopped following her and parked his car at a dry cleaners a little ways down from the stop, far enough to not raise suspicion, but close enough for him to rush to Eren's aid should the need arise. After another ten minutes passed, Eren's bus came and she got on to join the hoard of other high school brats.

He decided to head home and finish a few neglected chores while Eren was in school. He started his car and reversed out of the space, then headed the opposite direction to reach his quaint home. He didn't notice the squad car parked in the alleyway, nor the two officers who recognized him and messaged the police chief. They received orders to suspend their watch and head over to a scene of another break in, nine blocks from where they currently were.

* * *

><p>When Levi returned to work, he was called into the police chief's office. He entered the private space and found Erwin sitting in the chief's chair, the chief nowhere in sight.<p>

Erwin beckoned Levi to close the door and sit down. He told him about the decision to halt their surveillance. Levi had remained relatively calm through the beginning of the conversation, up until Erwin dropped the bomb that he'd been waiting for.

Erwin watched as Levi stiffened in his chair, his grip on his knees tightened and his knuckles protruded from his clenched fists. He said nothing, waiting for Levi to respond.

When it was evident that Levi would not reply to him, Erwin spoke again, "I think this is a good chance for you to cool your head. Give this case a rest for now."

He spat, "Give it a rest Erwin, really? And what makes you think I need to cool my head off?"

"Levi, you need to calm down." He stated coolly.

"How can I be calm...What the hell do you mean that we aren't doing surveillance anymore?"

"I mean exactly what I said, they've decided to cancel the watch, we can't very well shadow that girl and her friends for the rest of their lives, it makes no sense. They seem to be out of danger anyway."

"Yea, they _seem_ to be, they also _seemed_ to be fine the night they were attacked Erwin. As soon as those shit head punks see that we've stopped watching those damn brats, you know they're going to try and retaliate."

"Levi, it is not our job, no, it's not _your_ job to protect one person and neglect the rest of the city. We protect the people, the civilians, and the greater good of the city. We aren't mercenaries or body guards Levi, we're law enforcement officers." Erwin's tone remained steady and firm.

Levi's anger was apparent in his eyes, he glared at his partner with silent rage as his chest rose and fell methodically with quick, heavy breaths.

"You need to listen to me on this one; you're already on a short leash with the superiors for how you handled things that night. You shot four people and killed three of them. Only one of the dead men had a weapon. Things aren't looking too good for you right now. Besides, you seem to lose your head whenever that girl is involved. I suggest this for both your sake and hers, take some time off and cool down Levi. You need it."

Levi looked up at his partner, rage boiling down as he thought of positives of taking his accumulating vacation time. He thought back to his previous two days off, about how closely he'd been able to watch Eren. He had a quick internal debate over whether or not to take the offer…

"Yea. I need a fucking vacation... And a drink."

* * *

><p>The morning Carla left for her trip, Levi sat parked in his usual spot, the sky was still dark and it was chilly. He sipped on the black coffee he'd made himself before he left to begin his third vacation day.<p>

He watched as the black sedan pulled up and stalled in front of the complex's entrance. The driver exited and he looked to the front entrance to see Eren's mother exiting the building with a few bags of luggage. 'She must be traveling again.'

The driver opened the door for Carla and then packed her cases in the trunk. They drove away and Levi watched them as they left his line of sight. He turned his attention back to his coffee and reached into the back of his car to shuffle through the small bag of clothes he'd brought to change into later in the day. He pulled out a short blanket and draped it over himself as he sat and watched the building. He pulled out his phone and looked at the time displayed in bright white letters across the screen, 'Eren won't be awake for another two hours,' thinking this, he decided take a short nap. He set the alarm to wake him up let his eyes close.

Not a moment later, he heard the angry screech of metal on metal, the sound of rubber burning on concrete, glass shattering and then silence. Levi's eyes shot open and he all but threw the cover off his body. He exited his car and looked around for the source of the noise. He noticed smoke and steam coming from further down the street and he hopped back in his car.

After a few minutes, he stalled his car and stared, in wide-eyed horror at the scene before him.

The driver's side of the sedan was completely smashed in. Levi exited his car and rushed forward to the scene. He felt his stomach fall when he realized that not only was the driver complete crushed by the impact, but that Carla was as well. She sat directly behind the driver. Her face was smashed into the seat in front of her and the broken glass from back window was shattered all across her back and neck. The driver was completely crushed, Levi couldn't tell where his body started and the car ended since his limbs were compacted between the bent metal and shattered glass.

Just as Levi reached into his pocket to grab his phone, a pained grunt caught his attention. He quickly put his phone back into his pocket and closely looked into the car that had crashed and killed Eren's mother.

He saw a little movement, and then heard another pained grunt that followed a thud. He ran over to the other side of the vehicle and saw a man pulling his body away from the opened car door. He'd hit the car and thrown his door open so it wouldn't trap him inside so he would be able to escape the scene, but he hadn't expected to injure himself so fully that he'd be unable to walk.

As the man pulled away from the car, Levi rushed over to help him up.

"Sir," Levi started as he bent down to the man's side, the man's shirt was ripped from the impact and his head was facing down towards the concrete before he looked up to see Levi. That's when he'd noticed it, the symbol of legion on the back of the man's hand, this wasn't just a drunkard who'd been fooling around and missed the light, this was an attack, an attempted and successful murder.

Levi pulled the man up by the collar of his ripped shirt and forced him to stand on his injured and bloodied ankle. He shook the man, "Who the ordered you to do this?" When the man only grunted in protest to the shaking, Levi shook him harder and threw him to the ground, "I SAID WHO ORDERED THIS YOU STUPID FUCK!?"

He straddled the man's injured form and slammed his head into the concrete. "Answer the goddamn question or I swear I'll make you wish you'd died back there."The man answered him by spitting on Levi's face.

Levi slammed the man's head back into the pavement and pulled out his gun, he wiped the sickening saliva off of his cheek and pointed the barrel to the man's knee cap. He fired once, and steadied the writhing body beneath him as he tightly gripped the sides of the man's mouth to prevent him from screaming.

"Let me ask you again. Who. Sent. You." The man just thrashed and tried his best to free himself. Levi struck the side of his head with the handle of his firearm and scooted up a bit further to sit on the man's chest, he then pointed his weapon between the man's legs next. He let the barrel rest on the man's crotch as he shook him again.

"W-wait don't" the man mumbled out, Levi slackened his grip on his jaw put pushed more firmly with his gun, "t-the King, he's the one who ordered this."

"Who the fuck is the King? What does that mean to me, I need a name you piece of shit." He turned and lifted the gun from the man's crotch, then brought it down in a quick strike to the private area, earning a whimpering cry from his captive. "Next time it's a bullet."

As the morning sky lightened, the man convulsed and cried like a small child. Through his sobbing, Levi was able to make out that the man didn't know who this 'King' was, and he also had never met the man. At this point he felt like he was wasting his time so stood and pulled the man with him. He threw him into a nearby alleyway, next to a dumpster and fired a few more rounds into his head before he picked him up and threw his dead body into the dumpster.

Levi walked back to his car and ripped off his bloodied shirt; he wiped down his hands as best he could and laid the blanket out on his seat so he wouldn't dirty the seat. He grabbed his phone, dialed 9-1-1, and anonymously reported the accident. He drove away from the scene and parked behind Eren's building.

He sat in the vehicle and angrily thrashed at the car wheel, feeling sick and disgusted with himself for failing Eren again. After he vented some of his frustration, he picked up his bag and wandered into her building in search of a bathroom. He found one on the ground floor, near the exit to the alleyway.

He cleaned himself up and changed, then discarded his ruined garments into the dumpster outside in the alleyway where his world was changed forever. He crouched down next to the spot that he'd fallen four, almost five years before. The spot where he'd first met his saving grace, the little angel with bright, lively green eyes.

The sound of sirens drew him from his thoughts and he walked out of the alleyway to see a squad car stalled in front of the building, a young, nervous looking man hopped out the car and walked into the building. Levi narrowed his eyes and entered in through the side door in the building, he followed the young officer all the way to Eren's floor.

* * *

><p><em>Eren laid back down and rolled over onto her side to face Levi. She lay there, watching him until she slowly fell into a deep, fatigue induced sleep. All the while Levi repeated aloud and to himself, "I'm not going to leave you… I'm here, it's okay… you're okay…I'm here…I'll protect you…you'll be safe with me."<em>


	6. By Simple Coincidence? - Part 3

**Chapter Four– By Simple Coincidence? – Part 3**

Eren awoke in the early hours of the day, the morning after her mother's accident. Her swollen eyes, blinked once, twice, and finally a third time before they opened fully. She groaned as she rolled over in her sheets, feeling an ache in her muscles and heaviness in her chest.

Her eyes widened when her hand came into contact with silky, dark hair. She sucked in a quick breath and pulled herself up to a sitting position. In her surprised haste, she kneed the owner of silky dark locks in the head, causing them…no…him to stir.

"S-shit," he grunted.

She watched in shock, as the man groaned and clutched his head, lifting himself from his sleeping position on the side of her bed. Eren remained silent while her sleep bogged brain processed the information. Then she remembered everything.

The young officer. Officer Levi. The accident. Her mother's death. It all hit her like a rough and violent wave from a hurricane. Her body shook as renewed sadness and tears spilled out and her quiet sobs filled the room.

Levi rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched to get the kink, which had formed in his back from sleeping slumped over and in a chair, out. He snapped to attention when he heard the soft, choked sobs that escaped Eren's lips.

"Eren!" He immediately moved closer to her, reaching his hands out to lightly grasp her shaking shoulders. She lowered her hands from her swollen eyes and looked at him through dark, tear matted lashes.

Levi felt a deep sadness and anger in the pit of his stomach; he pulled her forward and hugged her tightly to his chest. He felt her tense up, but he kept his hold firm and steady.

Eren's tension slowly faded, and she relaxed into the hug. She reached forward and tightly gripped his shirt and cried softly into the crook of his neck. She felt the bed move and heard it creak, as his weight was added to it. He briefly loosed his grip and pushed back the covers, then pulled her with him as he leaned against the headboard. She settled between his legs, curled up and crying in his arms.

Levi gently ran his fingers through her hair and drew slow, soothing circles on her back. "Just let it out, I'll stay here as long as you need me."

He let a short, choked breath escape as he exhaled, staring up at the ceiling and slowly rocking her back and forth. He felt her trembling more, and looked down to see goose bumps appearing on her arms, he paused his circle rubbing and leaned forward slightly to grab the covers, then pulled back and draped them over his legs and around Eren's shoulders.

"It's okay…just let it out…it's okay, it's going to be okay…" He felt Eren shift and loosened his grip to allow her to move freely.

His eyes widened when she did not move away, instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. Her head remained down and her soft cries were muffled by his shoulder. Levi wrapped his arms around her again, resting his hand on the back of her head and listening to the hicks and broken sobs that escaped her throat. He felt the convulsion of her soft chest against his and he hugged her tighter.

They lay there, Levi silently trying to comfort her and Eren letting the sorrow from her loss spill out of her tired body. Eventually, Levi felt the random convulsions of her chest, slow to a steady, even rise and fall as Eren started to calm down.

When he no longer felt her warm tears wetting his sleeve, and heard only muffled sniffling, he softly spoke, "Eren?" When she tightened her hold, he continued, "You need to eat soon…want me to pick something up or make something for you?"

She mumbled into his sleeve, but he wasn't able to make it out. "Hmm?"

She lifted her head and leaned back, letting her hands remain on his shoulders as she spoke, "I'm n-not hungry." She sniffled again and kept her gaze down.

"I know you're not, but you need to eat, even it's just a little bit," he lifted his hand gently cupped her face, then wiped the tear that began to fall from her eye with a gentle swipe of his thumb, "understand?"

Eren's features contorted into a childish grimace and she shook head, to push her unwillingness to eat forward, she leaned back towards Levi and wrapped herself around him again. Her head rested just below his, and her face was pressed against his chest as she mumbled again, "m' not hungry."

Levi allowed a short chuckle to escape his lips at Eren's childish display. "Not hungry? Or just don't want to get out of bed?" He chuckled again as Eren tensed slightly, "Well?"

She shook her head in protest; then began to pull away again. Levi lifted his arms away and allowed her to move about; she pushed away from him and turned to her night stand, looking for something. When she spotted the water bottle, she leaned forward to grab it, but then stopped when she realized it was empty.

Eren scrunched her brows in frustration and turned to look up at Levi's slightly amused expression. "I'm thirsty."

"I bet you are. And hungry." He let a small smile adorn his features when he saw her apologetic and embarrassed expression. He leaned forward slightly, and smiled a bit wider when Eren didn't move to get away from, choosing instead to gaze at him curiously.

He let one of his legs slide off the side of the bed and gently coaxed Eren to drape her legs over the side as well. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up and re-hydrated," he paused as slid his other leg off the bed, he still had a loose grip on Eren as she sat between his legs, "Can you walk?"

Eren steadied herself on his thighs and used them to push herself off of the bed; she wobbled for moment, her knees feeling weak, but then stabilized and started to walk towards her bedroom door.

Levi smiled and followed her out of the room, he watched her enter the bathroom across from her bedroom. When the door closed, he had to fight the urge to open in and walk in on her, just to make sure she was okay, 'no…that's an invasion of privacy, she's gone through enough…stop thinking about it,' he convinced himself to walk away and he started towards the kitchen.

After a several minutes passed, Levi managed to find and lay out the ingredients to make scrambled eggs and honey toast. He turned on the coffee maker and ran it without any coffee to make hot water for tea. When he was pouring the water into the appliance, he saw Eren leave her bathroom and go back into her room, several moments later she came out with an oversized night shirt.

She walked towards Levi and he met her halfway in the living area, "H-here, take this," she offered the shirt to him, "I kind of dirtied yours…and I don't have anything else that could fit you."

Levi raised his brow but accepted the shirt. "Thanks."

Eren nodded and then walked towards the kitchen as Levi went to the bathroom to change his tear soaked shirt. The night shirt was oversized on Eren, but fit him just right in the shoulders and chest, though it was a bit too long and loose at his waist, it was still better than walking around in a cold, and damp shirt. He returned to the kitchen to see Eren breaking eggs into a bowl.

Levi walked up behind her and placed his hand on the back of her head, ruffling her hair, "Will you take care of the eggs for me?"

Eren shyly nodded and continued her job as Levi returned his attention to the making of the tea and the bread. After several minutes of shuffling back and forth in the cramped space, there were two plates made, both filled with somewhat burnt scrambled eggs, perfectly crisp and chewy honey toast, and a few slices of a cut up apple. Eren brought two coffee mugs and Levi served them both tea.

The two sat in silence as they ate their meal. Eren was much hungrier than she'd thought, clearing her plate and asking for seconds. Levi gave her one of his toast slices and after a little reassuring, she ate it happily. He washed the dishes while she cleared the table and put away what was left of the ingredients.

"Are you still tired?"

Eren nodded and Levi took her by the hand, he led her to the living room and laid down on the sofa, guiding her to do the same. She comfortably settled against him and he draped the throw cover over them. He let his head fall back against the cushions and shifted slightly to a more comfortable position. When he felt Eren's movement still, and felt the steady rise and fall of her chest, he allowed his eyes to close and he drifted off to sleep, holding Eren protectively in his arms.

* * *

><p>The following days were a blur for Eren, a blur of legalities, formalities, and procedures. Her mother's body was reconstructed as best as possible, but the surgeons weren't able to make her face presentable enough for an open casket viewing.<p>

Eren had packed up enough of her things for an entire week, upon the insistence of Mikasa and her family, Levi took her to Mikasa's home. Eren was welcomed to live with them until she was able to decide her own living situation.

Carla's will was read and Eren was to inherit all her savings, stocks, and bonds, when she turned eighteen. It was decided that Eren could remain in the care of the Ackerman's until graduation, later on that semester, but the decision was ultimately up to Eren after she'd turned eighteen and was recognized as an adult under the law. Since she still had three more weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Eren needed to return home and get more clothing, and pack away the rest of her belongings to put into storage.

The Ackerman's offered to drive her there, but Eren declined, feeling that she'd already imposed on them greatly. After a short bus ride and a 10 minute walk, Eren stood in front of her old home. She'd taken the day off of school to have some time to herself and to pack up what remained in her apartment.

She took a deep breath and opened her door, closing it behind her but forgetting to lock it. She started with her bedroom, packing away most of her clothing for storage and setting aside a few pieces to take with her back to Mikasa's house. Satisfied with her bedroom, she moved to her bathroom, then the living room next.

Several hours later, Eren found herself in her mother's room, packing away the clothing that would never be worn by Kalura again. As each piece was lowered into the box, Eren would recall the most memorable moments that her mother had in each one. She carefully folded a black lacey dress, and thought back to the night her mother wore it to her, Mikasa, and Armin's honors society induction ceremony and dinner. Next she picked and folded a cream blouse, one her mother often paired with jeans and skirts for her work's casual Friday's.

After going through a few more garments, Eren felt herself on the verge of breaking down again. She left her mother's room and wandered out into the living area, as she passed the front door, she noticed that she hadn't locked it, and then quickly rushed to rectify the issue. She grabbed a bottle of water and a snack bar from the pantry and sat at the dinner table, trying to calm herself down enough to be able to return and finish her task of cleaning up and packing. She decided to take a short nap, and set an alarm to wake her up in an hour as she lay down to rest on the sofa.

* * *

><p>After her nap, Eren felt refreshed and was back in her mother's room. She decided to leave the clothing for another day and moved instead to pack up the pictures and random items that littered Carla's room.<p>

While Eren was cleaning, three suspicious figures approached her building. They entered. Rode the elevator up, and then stood outside her door. One tried to open the door, then cursed when it was locked. Another pulled out a lock pick, and went to work. Within a few seconds, the door was unlocked and the figures had full access to the apartment, and to Eren.

To chase the sadness away, Eren focused on humming a tune she'd learned from her mother as a small child. She would pause to look at the pictures before she wrapped them and placed them into another box, remembering all the wonderful and happy times she'd shared with her mother.

She was so engrossed in her song and in her thoughts, that she didn't hear the door being forced open, nor the man silently approaching her mother's bedroom. Eren turned to exit the room and head towards the bathroom, when she turned on the light, she nearly screamed.

A hand was roughly slapped over her mouth before the scream could escape and the dark clothed man behind her pulled her back and off her feet. His tight grip restrained her movements and his rough, calloused fingers prevented her cries for help from escaping. She froze momentarily when she recalled the attack four months prior, the trauma and terror causing her to freeze up and panic as she was dragged towards her bedroom.

When she saw the two other men ripping open and dumping out the boxes she'd neatly packed and stacked in the living space, she began to thrash and kick wildly, in her last attempt to escape. The man's grip only tightened and Eren cried harder.

She opened her mouth as wide as she could, feeling an ache in her jaw, then bit down with as much force as she could muster on the man's hand. She tasted his blood on her tongue and clamped down harder.

The man screamed and dropped Eren, then pushed her down on the carpet when she released his hand. "You fucking bitch" he hissed, then kicked her, causing her to lose her balance on the floor and fall face first into the carpeting. With his uninjured hand, he grabbed Eren by the ankle and dragged her across the carpet towards her bedroom.

"LET GO OF ME," she tried to turn and kick at the man. One of the others ran over to her and stuffed a cloth into her mouth to gag her, then restrained her by wrapping her wrists behind her back with packing tape. Eren's vision blurred with her tears, she felt so helpless and so weak, so angry and terrified. She closed her eyes and tried her best to steel herself for what was about to happen next.

* * *

><p>Levi had been silently opposed to the Ackerman's taking temporary custody of Eren, but what could he say? To Eren, he was a complete stranger, yes, he'd saved her life, just as she'd saved his, but it made more sense for her to stay with a family friend, which was the closest thing she had to a family, now that Carla was gone.<p>

He felt like he had no right to keep her, though he wanted nothing more that to take her home with him, especially after the day they'd spent together. He wanted everyday to be that blissful, they'd wake up next to each other, share small conversations and laughs, cook and eat together, clean up together, sleep together…just be together, always. He felt like he could do anything with Eren by his side. But he knew he couldn't take her away from her friends, not now…and likely, not ever.

He settled for spending the rest of his vacation observing her carefully, but from a distance. He said he'd always be there and he was going to keep good on his word, even if she didn't notice.

He'd parked near the school bus stop, expecting to see both Mikasa and Eren waiting at it; he was confused when he saw only the black haired girl there. After the bus left, Levi stayed in the area, wondering what had become of Eren. After another twenty minutes of waiting, he saw her exit the house and then head towards a public bus stop. He followed a safe distance behind the bus, and then parked his car in his usual roosting spot outside her complex when he realized that was her destination.

Morning turned to noon, then noon to evening. As the hours dragged on, Levi had to busy himself with reading, or phone games to keep himself alert and awake. As the day drew closer and closer to its end, he decided to just join Eren. He was sure she was either cleaning or packing, possibly both, he honestly didn't care so long as he was able to be with her, and be of use to her. Before leaving his car, he decided to stop by a drive through and pick them up a quick bite to eat.

As he was leaving the drive through, just a few minutes away from the complex, three legion members crept into the building and made their way up to Eren's floor.

Levi parked his car and started towards the front entrance. He went up the elevator and hummed a slow tune to himself. When he reached her floor, he strode down the hallway, all the way to the end, and then froze when he arrived at Eren's opened door.

He dropped the bag of burgers and rushed forward. He immediately darted towards the kitchen and grabbed a knife; he shut the door to prevent any quick escape for the soon to be victims.

He lunged forward and hit the man who was shuffling through the ripped and ruined boxes with the base of the knife on the back of his head, then kicked him sending him stumbling forward and into the wall. He turned his attention to the man who was pulling Eren towards her bedroom. He gripped the knife tightly and ran towards him.

He was stopped by the figure that'd been crouched down and binding Eren's limbs. The man brandished his own knife and lunged at Levi, he managed to graze Levi's side but did not pull away fast enough to avoid Levi's knife in his back. When he'd pushed it in to the hilt, he twisted it then pulled it out, not even sparing the man a glance as he fell to the carpet. His blood spilled openly from the wound and was greedily absorbed by the carpeting.

The man holding Eren dropped her leg and frantically tried to pull out his gun, before he was able to get his grip on, Levi was behind him. He roughly gripped the man by his hair, pulling hard enough to rip it from his scalp, exposing his neck. The kitchen knife was swiftly dragged across his throat and he let the man fall to the floor to join his companion. The carpeting hungrily drank up his blood as it gushed from his sliced neck.

Eren's eyes were wide with horror as she watched the killings take place before her. Levi moved to the man he'd knocked unconscious and quickly slit his throat, then threw his body to join the other thugs on the red stained flooring.

Levi then turned, eyes still drawn into tiny slits, and approached Eren. He still had a firm grip on the knife, and the blood dripped from the soiled blade. Splatters adorned his face and clothing, the fabric of his shirt stuck to his skin at the shallow wound in his side, the blood that seeped from it was caught and absorbed by his dark shirt.

Eren shook her head in panic, trying her best to back away from him while still bound and gagged. She closed her eyes and continued to shake her head, trying to tell him to stay away from her, not to touch her.

He pulled her forward and cut the tape that restrained her arms, then pulled the gag out of her mouth. He froze for a moment when she stared up at him in horror, her body trembling from the terror she felt. He slowly backed away, and Eren immediately shot up. She tried to run for the door, but Levi stopped her, he dropped the knife and pulled her towards him, then quickly covered her mouth to stop the scream he knew was coming.

"Eren, shh, please it's okay. It's just me. It's Levi, calm down." She continued to thrash and fight him, "I'm not going to hurt you, so please calm down. Please Eren."

Levi's voice cracked as he felt the stinging pain of rejection. He slackened his grip and let his hands fall to his side.

She rushed forward, but tripped over one of the bodies of her attackers. "Eren…please…"

She pulled herself up and stumbled again as she reached the door, she turned to see Levi still standing in the same spot, defeat drawn into his features. She backed against the doorway and took several deep breaths to try and calm herself.

"Eren?" she looked at him and slowly nodded her head. Within moments, Levi was at her side, holding her closely. "I'm so sorry, I failed you again, please forgive me…"

"It's…okay." She spoke softly, shakily.

"Are you okay?" she nodded and he pulled himself off of her.

He extended his hand to her and she cautiously grabbed a hold of it, he slowly pulled her to her feet, and allowed her to steady herself between his body and the door.

"You should go wash up, I'll be here when you're finished, so don't worry. I won't leave…not again."

Eren regarded his pained expression and nodded, feeling too weak to speak. She carefully walked to the bathroom and as soon as she was in it, she shut and locked the door then found herself barfing into the toilet. After several dry heaves, she flushed and went to the sink to rinse the foul, acidic taste from her mouth. Her appearance shocked her.

Her hair was matted down with sweat and disheveled beyond belief, her shirt was ripped, and she had deep red lines on her cheeks. Her eyes were red and swollen and she had blood stains on her chin and chapped lips. She was extremely pale.

She turned away from the mirror and shuffled through a recently packed box to find a bottle of shower gel and a towel. She turned on the shower stream, then jumped under the ice cold water before it had the chance to heat to a desirable temperature. She quickly scrubbed her body down and then rinsed the physical filth away, then turned off the water and wrapped herself in the towel. The feeling that she was covered in blood and dirt did not leave her.

In the kitchen, Levi washed his hands and rinsed himself off, trying his best to get rid of the overpowering stench of blood. He quickly searched the area and found that it was relatively untouched. He put some water in the coffee maker to heat it up, then searched for a cup. He poured a packet of powdered cocoa into the cup and added a few crushed up Unisom tablets. When the water was finished, he poured it into the cup and stirred to mix the ingredients together.

Not a moment later, Eren emerged from her bathroom, freshly washed. She went to her bedroom and a few minutes later, returned fully dressed. Levi offered her the cup of hot cocoa and mustered the best smile he could manage.

Eren hesitantly took the cup, then sat on the sofa. Levi sat across from her and encouraged her to drink and finish the contents of the cup. Not wanting to further upset him, Eren complied and drained the cocoa.

"Eren, how are you feeling?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, then answered back, "A bit bet-ahh-ter," she yawned in the middle of her response, "just sleepy."

Levi smiled and pulled the throw blanket to wrap around her.

"Then you should sleep."

Eren felt her lids becoming heavier, and she found it harder to stay alert. While she fought her fatigue, Levi dressed his wounded side and then started to clean up the area. He wanted to make sure that no one knew he'd been there.

After nearly an hour and a half had passed, he walked over to check on Eren, and was pleased to see her sleeping soundly. He went to her room and picked up the light bag she'd packed, and then picked up her sleeping form, still wrapped in the cover. He left the apartment and made it to his car without any trouble. He laid her out on the back seat and set her bag next to him in the front, then started his car and headed towards his home, the next city over.

* * *

><p>Levi tucked Eren snuggly into the bed of his guest bedroom, he left her bag in the corner and made sure the windows were all securely shut and the blinds were down. He walked over to the side of the bed and ran his fingers down the side of her face, 'I can't believe it…you're actually here' he thought to himself. He lowered himself next to her sleeping form and whispered, "I'll protect you from the wolves little rabbit… my angel … so please only look at me."<p>

He started towards the door to leave the room, then paused and turned to look one last time at her sleeping form before he shut the door. He stood outside the room with a key in his hands, he carefully slid the key into the lock and turned it, he jostled the handle to make sure the lock worked, then removed the key. "Goodnight, please sleep soundly."

He walked to his bedroom and made a quick anonymous call, showered, then readied himself for bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, Levi felt relaxed; his eyes slipped shut as sleep overtook him.

That was the most restful sleep he'd had in weeks.


	7. Dear Rabbit - Part 1

**Chapter Five– Dear Rabbit – Part 1**

_"I'll protect you little rabbit…my angel..so please only look at me._"

'No…no…don't touch me…please, don't come any closer…stay away…'

Run. That's all she think to do, all that she could hope to do, to try and get away from the blood splattered figure holding the crimson drenched blade.

Red. That's all she could see, the hot, scarlet fluid, spurting from the veins of the dead men that littered her once, warm and cozy home.

Silence. That's all the she could hear, her screams never able to leave her terror stricken throat.

The man approached, his lips moved, but her ears refused to recognize any tones. Her wide, emerald eyes, stared, frozen in terror as he closed the distance between them. She felt his arms wrap around her cornered form, the heat of his body pressed closely to hers, betraying her sense of self preservation. She tried to push away, her fingers slipping on his slickened, blood splattered skin. She was pulled further into his grasp, preventing her from fighting back, his slippery red fingers curling around her back, gripping her body and immobilizing her. 'No, please don't hurt me, please…'

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Eren shot up from the sheets, nearly throwing them off of the bed. Tears streamed down her face and her shoulders shook from the terrible nightmare she'd awoken from.

Feeling the chill of the room hit her sweat drenched skin; she reached forward and pulled the damp sheets back over her body. Eren's breath quickened as she began to take in her surroundings.

'Where am I…this isn't my bed…'

"M-Mikasa?" she called out vainly. 'No...the Ackerman's guest bedroom wasn't like this…what…'

"Where am I?" Eren buried her face into the palm of her hands and tried to curl in on herself. After letting a few more tears fall, she slowly crawled out of the bed.

Her bare feet hit the cold, hardwood flooring and she momentarily stiffened from the shock. After a few seconds, she forced herself to get used to the sensation, and softly padded through the darkened room. When she reached a wall, she blindly searched it, running her hands along the wall until she found the cool plastic panel that housed the light switch.

She flipped a switch, and the light came on, illuminating the unfamiliar space. Eren stared, wide eyed for a moment while her shock rattled mind tried to put the bits and pieces of her last few days together, and try to figure out how she'd ended up in this strange place.

She wandered over to the windows and pulled back the heavy curtains to reveal a view of the starry night sky. She attempted to pull at the windows, but they were shut and locked tightly.

She returned to the opposite side of the room and grasped the metal door knob. She gave a weak, experimental twist, and stiffened when she realized that it wasn't budging. She gave the knob several more, stronger twists and tugs, but to no avail.

'I-I'm locked in…? What is going on?'

She jostled the handle roughly, trying in vain to bust the lock and open the door.

Eren paused her assault on the door knob when she heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

She searched the room for a place to hide and settled for crawling under the bed. She quickly thumbed the switch and turned the lights off, immediately depriving herself of her sense of sight. In the moment of confusion, as she tried to dive under the bed, the sound of metal clinking against metal could be heard as the door was unlocked and opened.

She fell to the floor in shock as the lights were turned on, sending her dark adjusted eyes back into another dazed spiral as they tried to readjust to the added light source. Disoriented by the entire situation, Eren screamed and thrashed as two strong arms were wrapped around her fitful form.

"Eren," she struggled more, and the grip tightened.

"No! No, let me go! Get off of me!" she continued her thrashing as she tried to pry the arms off of her body.

"Eren it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you…please Eren, calm down," she felt the warm breath of her capturer against the back of her neck, as he lowered his head in defeat, "…please."

She stopped struggling completely and let the man hold onto her. His grip was firm, but it wasn't painful, and he hadn't threatened her or brandished a weapon. Eren took a deep, shaky breath and cautiously placed her hand on the wrist of her captor.

"O-okay," she breathed out, "I won't try and run, so please, let me go?" her grip on the wrist tightened slightly, then released as she felt his hold slacken.

His arms slowly dropped, loosely fitting around her waist, then were completely removed from her space. Keeping true to her word, Eren stayed crouched on the cold wooden floor and slowly turned around to see her captor.

She was met with a downcast, pained look on his…no Levi's, face. Eren felt her chest constrict, as both guilt and fear surged through her system.

"Levi?" he looked up to meet her eyes, then just as quickly looked away. 'He looks like he's having a hard time,' she thought. Her brows furrowed further, her face becoming a mask of confusion and anxiety.

"I'm sorry Eren," his words were barely spoken above a whisper; they sounded broken and terribly pained. He slipped back towards the door and shut it behind him, closing both himself and Eren off from the rest of the cold, dark house.

She stood, making sure to keep as much distance between them as possible. "Where am I? What is this…?"

Without meeting her questioning gaze, he answered, "This is my house," he looked and locked her eyes with his own "but you're welcome to stay here and call it yours too."

"I…I don't feel very welcome." She moved further back into the room, "Why did you lock the door?"

"I-…to keep you safe Eren. I did it to protect you. If you wandered out of the house and got lost…or taken, then I don't know what I would do."

Eren felt her confusion boil into anger, "What do you mean, 'keep me safe?' You think that by kidnapping me that you're protecting me? What's wrong with you?"

She glared at him, and slowly moved away from the wall, towards the door he was still guarding, "This…" Eren looked around the room, "This is crazy Levi. I trusted you, I thought you would help me…not lock me away?" the pain she felt from talking so sharply to him made her voice quiver and crack, "If you really cared about me, then you would let me go." She crossed back over to door, and reached for the handle, that Levi's hand had fallen from.

"I want to leave, take me back to Mikasa." She turned the knob and began pulling the door open.

He firmly gripped her hand, and pushed back to close the door again, "I can't do that Eren. It's not safe."

"And it's safe here? You won't even let me leave this room."

"Eren." His voice was low and rigid, yet the underlying ache was still detectable. "Go back to bed, we'll discuss this when we've both had more rest."

"Why? So you can lock me up again?" She roughly jostled the door knob and used her other hand to try and pry Levi's fingers off of the knob. "I want to leave. I-I want to go home," her eyes burned as fresh tears began to swell, "I don't want to be here, not with you…" she fell to the floor, tears spilling from her eyes, "p-please."

Her hands still weakly held the knob. Levi lowered himself, taking her shaking hands with him. He wrapped his arms loosely around her and held her head to his chest. "Eren…" the softness returned to his voice, the gentleness that he'd had previously, when he comforted her.

Eren noticed it and cried harder, leaning into the warmth and security that his arms gave her. The safety that she'd lost when her mother died. But this…this wasn't the same kind, it was not a mother's love that compelled Levi to care for her so strongly…she'd barely known him before her attacks, yet he'd always seemed so close… so familiar.

So why, why was this stranger so willing and able to help her? Why, even as she lashed out at him and took her frustrations out on him, did he simply stand there and take it…? And why did he look so wounded…so defeated? Eren felt both comforted by and terrified of him…yet she felt herself relaxing into his familiar hold, almost willing him to hold her closer…tighter.

"Eren, for now… just do as I say. We can discuss this later…"

"Why?" she whispered softly against his neck. "Why are you doing this…?" she tightened her grip on his shirt, fisting her hands and pressing herself closer to him.

"Because I… I care about you..." he pushed her back enough to cup her face, "and I want to protect you. Isn't that reason enough?"

Eren's eyes widened…she went rigid in his hold and stared at him like he'd suddenly grown wings. "W-what?"

He said nothing; instead, he began to sweep his thumbs along her paling cheeks.

"But I barely know you…you barely know me…how…?" she searched his tired, gray eyes, narrow and glossy, with the subtlest hint of tears, prickling at the edges. She reached forward and gentle touched his face, running her own thumb underneath his eye, wiping away the small tear before it fell.

She dropped her hand and leaned forward again, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "I'm so confused. I'm too tired for this-"

"Let's go to bed. It's late, you need to rest Eren." He felt her nod against his neck, taking this as confirmation; he tightened his grip around her and stood, lifting them both off of the cold wooden floor. He walked over to messy bed and laid Eren down, then moved to cover her with the blankets. He grimaced when he felt how cold and damp they were, then dropped them and turned to leave the room to get fresh sheets for her.

As soon as she was laid on the bed, and Levi's warm hold left her, she recalled her nightmare. The men attacking her, and the bloodied figure coming after her, the slippery wet feeling of the blood on her skin, renewed by the still damp sheets she was laid into. Her mind still spun, unable to separate her harsh reality from her hellish nightmare.

Eren reached out and grabbed the edge of his shirt, preventing him from walking away from the bed. "W-wait, don't leave, I-"

He turned on his heel and sent her a shocked expression, then quickly let the stoic mask he usually wore cover his features. "It's alright. I'm going to get you fresh sheets, that's all. I'll be right back." He turned to leave again.

She shot out of bed and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his lower back, "N-no, I don't want be alone, don't lock me in here again…"

Levi frowned slightly, but allowed her to willingly cling to his hips. "Then do you want to come with me?" he felt her nod into his back and tugged her arms off of his waist. He firmly gripped one of her hands and helped her out of the bed, "Come on then."

He guided her through the dark corridor and into the open expanse of his living room, keeping her close so she didn't run into anything. She stumbled a few times and fell into him, but he simply chuckled and pulled her forward again once she found her footing. They passed the linen closet and then walked into his bedroom, without flicking the light switch on, he guided her to his bed and pushed back the covers to let her sit on the edge.

"You can sleep here tonight."

Eren felt the soft, but firm, mattress below her as she was guided to it. She felt around the bed and lifted her legs to push them under the cool and silky sheets. She laid her head against the fluffy pillow and took a deep breath, inhaling the faint scent of forest timber. The smell reminded her of when she was a small child.

_ It was her first camping trip and her parents wanted to make it as authentic as possible. Grisha rented a log cabin in a forest, two states over, far away from all technology and modern life. They spent the weekend in the cabin, fishing and picking nuts and berries to snack on. Grisha had even managed to get both Carla and Eren out to try hunting. At only nine years old, Eren was a poor shot, but Carla was able to get a small pheasant and Grisha shot a rabbit. She threw a tantrum, upset at her father for killing the rabbit, but ate the stew prepared from its sacrifice anyway. _

_Both Carla and Grisha prepared a small casket to put the remains of the rabbit into; they let Eren choose where to bury it. She chose the largest tree she could find, an old Oak with twisted, above ground roots. After she buried it, she sat next to the tree, enjoying the sounds of nature until she dozed off. _

_She awoke to her parents' worried voices, calling out frantically, in search of their lost daughter. When she fully opened her eyes, she was met with a sight that she'd never forget for the rest of her life. _

_Standing, not two trees away, was a giant, white wolf. It's piercing silvery-blue eyes, staring straight through Eren, like it was looking into her soul, assessing its quality. Eren remained completely silent and frozen against the bark of the grand old tree, locked in the moment with perhaps the most terrifying, and beautiful creature she'd ever seen. The sounds of the woodland creatures and her breathing completely masked the concerned voices of her parents. All that existed in those moments were Eren and the white wolf; the only sounds were from her beating heart, her breath, and the birds chirping idly in the background. The smell of pine and oak, moss and fern, and grass and dirt surrounded them. _

Eren was brought back to reality when she heard the sliding of a chair across the wooden floor. She looked up from the bed to see Levi sitting in a cushioned armchair. He'd draped a blanket over his shoulders and leaned his head back against the dark material.

'Why is he..? Oh,' she realized she was in his room, sleeping in his bed, and she'd been the one selfish enough to demand that he not leave her alone. She felt guilty that she was sleeping comfortably while he had to sleep upright in the chair, but she was also happy that he had kept his distance.

Surrounded by silky, warm covers, the comforting scent of the woods and the image of majestic white wolf in her mind, Eren closed her eyes, letting sleep take her exhausted body immediately.


	8. Dear Rabbit - Part 2

**A/N: Opening is a bit of recap - mostly from Levi's perspective. New content is denoted by the ************ line.**

**Guest Reviewer: Thank you so much! I'm flattered to hear you're enjoying the story!**

**AnimeGeek507: Thank you for the love, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter.**

**x-soxei-x: Thank you! ^/o/^ Your words make me blush, hehe. **

**Chapter Six– Dear Rabbit – Part 2**

Levi awoke to a high pitch scream that made his blood run cold. Wide eyed and on edge, he fumbled out of his bed and searched for the keys in the darkness of his bedroom. He hurried towards the locked room, hoping that she'd simply had a nightmare and that it wasn't something worse. Several scenes ran through his head as he rushed through his cold, dark home, none of them were pleasant.

'What if they found out she was here? No, no one followed me, no one saw us, I made sure of that. Did someone break in? No, I made sure everything was shut tightly, and I didn't hear any glass shattering…maybe, it was just a nightmare, she should still be asleep though…I must not have given her a strong enough dose…'

As he passed through the living room and approached the bedroom, he noticed light spilling out from the thin space between the door and the wooden floors. He also saw the shadow of a person standing on the other side of the door, preventing some of the light from filtering through.

As he got closer to the door, the little light that guided his way was exterminated, shrouding his cold abode in complete darkness. 'Eren.' He sped up and reached for the door knob, he deftly unlocked it and swung the door open. He allowed himself to take one more quick breath to still himself before flicking on the switch and taking in the scene that the darkness had concealed from him.

Eren lay, nearly face down on the floor, like she tried to dive but failed miserably. She clumsily pulled herself up into a crouching position and tried again to slide beneath the bed. Levi lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her, preventing her from doing so. She thrashed wildly in attempt to escape, but he didn't regret his decision, with how disoriented and fitful she was, it was likely that she would've hit her head in her haste to escape under the wood framed bed.

"Eren," he spoke in a calm, tired tone, hoping that she'd recognize his voice, despite the mask of exhaustion that deadened it.

Eren nearly screeched, "No! No, let me go! Get off of me!"

When her flailing only intensified, he tightened his grasp, just enough to restrict further movement, but not harsh enough to injure her.

"Eren it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you..;" he started, he wanted nothing more than to let her go, but he knew as soon as she did, she'd run away from him, she'd try to escape and she'd be exposed to the ugly and cruel reality of a world without a family and no place to truly call home, "…please Eren, calm down," Levi did not slacken his hold, but lowered his head, feeling defeated by the current situation, "…please," he continued on in his mind, 'I only want to protect you, please stop pushing me away.'

As if his thoughts were spoken aloud, Eren ceased her struggles, and allowed Levi to hold onto her without protest. She placed one of her hands on his wrist and spoke "O-okay…I won't try and run, so please…, let me go?" Her hand's weak grip tightened slightly, but loosened as his firm hold around her slackened.

Levi was reluctant to let her go completely, and let his arms linger a moment longer wrapped loosely around her waist. He slowly backed away and stood, then continued his retreat towards the doorway to block her from escape, should she go against her word. He felt ashamed by his actions, but continued to tell himself that it was for her own safety, it was better for Eren to hate him and be safe, than to like him and let her wander around unprotected. He'd tried surveillance, following her as closely as he could without being detected, and that had resulted in her mother's death. She was even worse off than before, and he just couldn't imagine what it would do to her if anything were to happen to the Ackerman's or her other blonde friend.

After a few moments passed, Eren slowly turned and looked up at him, "Levi…?" her expression was a blend of terror and confusion, and it tempted him into throwing the door open and letting her have her freedom. He refused to fall into that temptation, no matter how good it seemed at that moment.

"I'm sorry Eren…"

Levi forced the last urge to let her leave away as he leaned against the door, shutting it completely.

"Where am I? What…What is this?"

He answered too quickly, "This is my house," looking down to meet her searching, wide and confused eyes, he continued on, "but you're welcome to stay here and call it yours too." The unspoken words continued on his mind, 'I want nothing more than for you to feel at home here Eren…'

"I…I don't feel very welcome…why did you lock the door?"

Levi narrowed his eyes, "I-…to keep you safe Eren. I did it to protect you. If you wandered out of the house and got lost…or taken, then I don't know what I would do."

She snapped at him, "What do you mean, 'keep me safe?' You think that by kidnapping me yourself that you're protecting me? What's wrong with you?" Levi's eyes widened slightly as she locked him with a hateful glare, "This…this is crazy Levi. I trusted you, I thought you would help me…not lock me away?" the pain was evident in her voice as she continued on, "if you really cared about me, then you would let me go…" her voice cracked as she tried hold back her tears.

Eren had crossed over to the door Levi was guarding, and reached out for the bare handle. "I want to leave, take me back to Mikasa." She started to open the door, but Levi wouldn't allow it. He gripped her hand and leaned his weight back against the door to close it.

"I can't do that Eren. It's not safe." She spoke to him harshly, though the words were lost to him, he'd already made his decision and he was sticking through with it. "Eren…go back to bed, we'll discuss this when we've both had more rest."

Her harsh words continued to spill out, sharpened by anger and dulled by confusion and fear, "I don't want to be here, not with you…p-please." She fell to the floor in defeat, letting her hot tears flow freely.

Levi tried his best to swallow his pain as he crouched down and wiped her tears, then pulled her towards his chest in a gentle, comforting hold. "Eren, for now…just do as I say." His 'please,' went unspoken, "We can discuss this later…"

"Why…" she choked the words out, her warm breath tickling the cool skin of Levi's neck, "Why are you doing this?"

_Because you saved me. _"Because I…I care about you..." _You saved me and I'm forever indebted you. _"and I want to protect you."_ Like you've saved me, my guardian angel, do you even know how much I love you? _"Isn't that reason enough?"

He felt so much affection and admiration for the girl no…for the young woman he held in his arms as she wiped away the hot moisture that glossed his eyes. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding when she relaxed back into his arms, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

He felt her warm breath tickle his throat as she spoke, "I'm so confused. I'm too tired for this…"

Before she could finish, he cut her off, "Let's go to bed, it's late… you need to rest Eren." She nodded against his neck and he stood, tightening his hold to keep her firm against his chest as he walked over to the empty bed to lay her down. When he was about to tuck her into the covers, he felt the dampness of the sheets and frowned. 'I need to change these.'

Wordlessly, he turned to retrieve fresh sheets, but was stopped when he felt a weak tug on his shirt, "W-wait, don't leave… I-"

"It's alright. I'm going to get you fresh sheets, that's all. I'll be right back." He tried his best to sound reassuring, but the lack of sleep and the physical exertion were grating on his nerves, making it increasingly difficult to control his tone of voice.

"I don't want to be alone…don't lock me in here again…"

'Eren.' He thought, eyes widening when she threw arms around his waist and buried her face into his lower back. He reached down and lightly grasped her arm, thankful that she wasn't as repulsed by him as he thought she'd be. At least not disgusted enough to shy away or outright refuse physical contact. "Then do you want to come with me?" he pulled her arms off and helped her get out of the cold sheets of the guest bed, "Then come on." Levi deftly guided her through his home, shrouded in darkness, pausing every so often when he felt her stumble or to let her regain her bearings.

Once they reached his bed, he pulled back the sheets further, and guided her to his bed. "You can sleep here tonight." Without another word, he left her to settle into his sheets, and then headed towards his opened door to shut it. He felt around his room for his desk chair, then pulled the blanket from the foot of his bed and settled into the chair, blanket draped over him to keep the chilly night air off of his skin.

Thoughts of the conversation to come when they awoke were pushed aside in favor of the warmer, more recent memories he'd made with Eren. He fell asleep dreaming of a day when she would willingly crawl into his arms and whisper words of adoration and affection for him. _Please rest well, Eren, goodnight. _

Levi woke to a stiff neck and soft, warm puffs of breath against his cheek. Still groggy from the late night, and early morning conflict with Eren, he groaned, shifting in his uncomfortable desk chair while he opened his eyes.

He stared for a moment, confused, he didn't know if he was still dreaming or simply seeing a vision to help ease the discomfort in his aching body. Eren stood before him, rather, was leaning towards him, her face mere inches from his. Deciding that he was still sleeping that it was a pleasant and welcomed dream, he reached out and pulled the dream Eren into his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, disregarding the chill of the air in the room when it hit his skin as the blanket fell from his shoulders. "Eren…" he breathed out against the top of the vision's head. Her hair was soft, and very realistic for a dream. It was only when his dream Eren started to push away did he begin to think something was off, 'This is my dream, you can't push me away in my own dream…' still delirious, he tightened his grip. However, the head butt to his chin dragged him, over a fire pit kicking and screaming, from his delirium.

"Unfmph," was all Levi could manage as he clutched his aching jaw and now bleeding mouth. "W-what the hell?" he barked out.

Eren had only been awake for ten or fifteen minutes before Levi first stirred. She debated trying to sneak past the sleeping man after getting over the initial shock of waking up in his bed. She knew she needed to escape, but she also knew for a fact that Levi had never once tried to hurt her. He was weird, and kind of hard to talk to, that was for sure, but he seemed to care greatly for her, and he didn't come off as a bad guy, despite how odd and almost, insane his behavior seemed. They needed to talk, things had to be settled, and it was not something that could wait, so she convinced herself to stay put for the time being.

'He doesn't look so scary while he's sleeping,' she thought as she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. He looked peaceful, and ten years younger while asleep. 'How old is he anyway…?' she wondered.

He shivered, and she debated whether or not to leave the warmth of the bed to replace the blanket that had fallen from his shoulders. 'I at least owe him that small of a kindness,' she thought, remembering how he'd literally saved her life not even a full day ago. She reluctantly pushed the warm, silky sheets off of her body and softly padded over the cold floor to Levi. She leaned forward and searched for the edges of the blanket, then pulled them up and over his shoulders. She leaned closer to him to make sure that the blanket was securely tucked behind him, so it didn't fall again.

She tried her best not to touch him any more than necessary, but she couldn't help the open mouthed breathes that escaped her lips while she stretched over him to keep the contact at a minimum. Eren paused when he stirred, and started to lean away, although not quickly enough since he was able to easily trap her and pull her into his lap. 'Oh my god was he faking?' she thought in a panic, freezing for a moment when he breathed into her scalp.

He sounded like he was still asleep and she couldn't see his face since hers was pressed into his clavicle. She tried to push against him, and then panicked when his hold tightened. Feeling a surge of adrenaline take over her system, she pushed away with all the force she could muster and head butt his jaw in her haste to escape the unexpected hug.

Eren fell backwards and onto the bed, her legs, wide open and planted downward in an awkward position, laid out right in front of Levi.

Levi stared wide eyed at Eren, sprawled out on the bed in front of him, still gripping his aching jaw. 'O-oh,' was all he was able to think while he tried to rid his mind of the sudden, and highly inappropriate scenarios that played out in his head.

Eren reoriented herself and shot upright, to try and correct her position. "S-sorry, you just surprised me and I-I didn't mean to hurt you…, you're bleeding I'm so sorry-"

She was visibly shaking and it took every ounce of self-control in Levi's body not to pull her into his arms again.

"No, it's alright Eren," he pushed himself up from the chair and popped his stiffened back, "if anything I should apologize. I was still half asleep, so it's my fault, sorry for making you uncomfortable." He clutched his jaw once again, after he finished his last word.

Eren nervously bit her finger while Levi stood and headed towards the closed bedroom door. 'Oh shit, way to go moron. I hurt him and now he's probably really pissed, I'll never get out of here now…' she sighed and cradled her head in her hands, distress visible in all her actions.

Levi left the room and shut the door behind him. He headed towards his bathroom to grab a wet wash cloth and rinse the blood out of his mouth. Since he was there, he went ahead and brushed his teeth and gave his face a quick rinse to help wash away whatever remained of the sleepiness Eren hadn't manage to knock out of him.

He returned to the room, shortly after freshening up, to a distressed Eren.

"Eren, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he rushed over to her, forgetting the ache in his chin and tenderness in his lips as he spoke.

"I'm fine…sorry…" she looked up from her hands, "Are you okay?"

Levi chuckled, "I'm fine, stop apologizing. It was an accident."

"I know, but…I'm still sorry."

"Apologize one more time, I dare you."

"I…" Eren shut her lips tightly and looked up at the amused expression Levi wore on his face. She tried to resist the laughter, she truly did, but after everything they'd gone through, a little laugh would surely be allowed.

It started as a giggle, then escalated into a full on hearty laugh that had her rolling against the disheveled sheets of Levi's bed. It felt like she hadn't laughed in years, at least not that hard. The whole absurdity of the situation finally settled into her less sleep deprived, and almost drug free system, helping fuel her need to laugh.

The sight of a laughing Eren did wonders for Levi's guilt ridden system. He laughed along with her, though not as wildly as Eren was. He sat on the edge of the bed when she stopped rolling on it, choosing instead to contain her giggles with a loose hand over her smiling mouth.

Levi hesitantly reached out and experimentally stroked her hair, hoping that that would help calm her strange mix of nervous and cheerful laughter. He smiled when Eren didn't flinch away from his touch; instead, she leaned into it, and allowed him to continue his calming pats.

After several more minutes had passed, Eren found herself clutching the duvet, eyes closed and resting against Levi's leg as he continued his soothing motions. Their oddly peaceful silence was interrupted by a loud declaration of Eren's empty stomach. Her eyes shot open and she offered Levi an apologetic grin.

He raised his brow at the noise, but was not really surprised by it. She'd practically been running on nothing. After she was attacked and Levi saved her, she emptied the contents of her stomach in the toilet of her old apartment, and all she'd had since then was the cup of hot cocoa Levi made for her before she woke up in his house.

Levi gave her head one more pat, then stood from his bed. "Stay here," he started, "I'm going to go make something to eat, I'll bring it to you when I'm finished alright?"

Eren felt the high she'd obtained from her laughing fit fading, "Okay…" she answered reluctantly, clutching the duvet a bit tighter.

Levi looked to her one more time, then nodded. He walked out of the room and shut the door, he felt the urge to lock it, but quickly shoved the idea into the back of his head, 'If I can't show her that I trust her…how can I expect her to ever trust me?' He left the door unlocked and shuffled to the kitchen to check the time and prepare them both a decent meal.

* * *

><p>Eren sat alone, wrapped in the wrinkled duvet, for fifteen minutes, trying her best not to let her mind wander to the events of the previous night. The longer she sat, the heavier her breathing became, so much so that she began to feel faint and had to lie back down. The coolness of the silken pillow helped calm her pulse, and helped to ease the tension of the slowly building migraine taking root in her head.<p>

After another fifteen minutes had passed, Eren's attempt at simply not thinking back to her attack had failed miserably. Her thoughts shot rapidly through her head, one after another of 'what if's,' and 'how did this even happen,'… 'who is he,'… 'why is helping me,'… 'I'm scared, I need to leave…I need to run…I don't want to be alone…someone get them away, get away from me, please…help.' She was soon a nervous ball of adrenaline fueled energy with only one thought guiding her actions. _Escape. _

She forced herself on her tired and weak legs, and crept towards the door. She took a shallow breath and jostled the handle, pleased to find that it was not locked. She slowly cracked open the door, then searched the area for any signs of movement. With daylight now illuminating the house, it was much less intimidating and easier to navigate her escape.

Eren opened the door slowly, hoping that the hinges wouldn't squeak and betray her. They didn't. She let go of a breath she'd been holding while opening the door, and crept out of the room and into a narrow hallway.

There were two doors to her right and large, dark green painted wall to her left. The smell and sound of sizzling meat on the stove awoke the painful hunger she felt. Ignoring the draw of food, she continued on, creeping as quietly as she could down the hallway until she reached an open area. There was a small set of stairs leading down into what appeared to be a tiled entryway, feeling a momentary high from joy of finding her exit to freedom, she lunged towards the doorway, her bare feet slapping loudly against the wood flooring. She hissed when her feet touched the even colder tile of the entryway, but ignored it as she fumbled with the locks and tried to open the front door. Her freedom lay just on the other side of the wooden barrier.

Levi had just finished preparing the potatoes and eggs, and set them aside to be plated while he finished up on the bacon. He wasn't sure how hungry Eren would be, or even if she'd be able to handle all of the high calorie foods in one sitting, so he made a small pot of sweet rice porridge, in hopes that it would calm her nerves and help her feel more comfortable. He'd just plated the last piece of bacon when he heard the door open. He narrowed his eyes and hurried around the corner, taking the shortest way to his bedroom, passing by the room that held Eren and his small balcony, where he enjoyed going out to read on warmer, breezy mornings. As he completely rounded the corner, he felt the blood drain from his face. His heart dropped and he ran forward to his opened front door. 'Eren, no…NO.'

He ran out and searched frantically for any signs of Eren, spotting her retreating form within seconds as she headed towards his neighbor's rose bush garden. She tripped over the shrubbery that lined his concrete driveway and fell against the white, well kept pavement. He could tell the fall hurt her, since she could only crawl from the area, scraping her clothed leg against the pavement and into his well maintained lawn. Within seconds, Levi was on her, pulling her up from the ground and all but dragging her back towards the house all the while praying that no one had witnessed the scene. The less people knew of his home's new occupant, the better for him, and the safer Eren would be.

When she pushed the door open and felt the morning sunlight hit her face, Eren's previous thought was consumed by another. _Run. _She didn't care how loud she was or where she was going, all she knew was that she had to escape, she had to run. So she did.

She stumbled out of the entryway and ran towards the nearest house, ignoring the fact that it was separated from Levi's yard by an obscene wall of rose bushes. When she realized her error and how her current direction could only end poorly, she turned on her heel and lost her footing on his driveway, scraping her toe against the light gray pavement and twisting her foot in an awkward position to change her direction. She tripped over the short line of shrubbery that decorated the driveway and fell, half of her body falling against the short grass while the other half slammed against the concrete slab. "Ugh…" she groaned and tried to raise herself, but her throbbing ankle would not allow it. She dragged herself, in a last ditch effort to escape.

When Levi's arms were wrapped around her and she was lifted from the ground, her mind went blank, all the panic had died down and the adrenaline rush that fueled her tired, empty body along with it. 'I can't give up, no I was so close, I have to fight…I have to fight back…' as she was dragged back into the home, that was quickly becoming more of a prison cell than a house, she could think only one thing, _Fight._

Levi dropped Eren to her feet at the entryway and quickly locked the doors. His attention was brought back when she lunged against him, and nearly knocked the air out of him when she head butted him in the abdomen.

"E-ren…" he groaned out, clutching his stomach, "Eren, stop, calm down," when she continued to struggle he took a deep breath and raised his voice, "EREN, CALM DOWN."

His patience had all but run out. He tried to trust her, but she'd failed the test. He wouldn't be able to let her roam around his…no their, home, freely anytime soon. His own thoughts alarmed him, frightened him, but what scared him even more was that he was okay with it, he was agreeing with the devil lurking in his mind, completely ignoring the protests of the angel on his shoulder and the one struggling in his arms.

Eren stilled her struggles, taking a deep, shaky breath and let her body go limp; trusting that Levi would take the weight that her wobbly, aching legs could no longer support. "I-" she couldn't finish the sentence, she was going to apologize, but they both knew how insincere it would have been, so she swallowed it and opted for silence.

"Let's go eat now. We'll talk this over after you've had your fill Eren." She nodded weakly and leaned forward from his chest. He released his hold and reached for her hand, which she offered without protest. They walked slowly, hand in hand, pass the kitchen and to the dining table. He let her settle into place and brought their plates to the table. To Eren's meal, he added a small bowl of the honey sweetened rice porridge.

They ate in silence, save for Eren's grumbling stomach. She was relieved to finally eat, but she wasn't sure she wanted to eat her fill since she wasn't exactly confident in her ability to hold it all down. The less she ate then, the less would come up later on. With a sigh, Eren finished the small bowl of sweet rice, and then ate a few slices of bacon before pushing her plates away, despite the audible and incessant grumble of her greedy food sac.

Levi cleaned his plate, and said nothing about Eren's refusal to finish everything on hers. 'At least she liked the porridge,' he thought, trying to lessen his growing impatience and anger towards her.

"Eren, are you still in pain?" he broke their awkward silence with caring words, though his tone was far from concerned.

Eren scrunched her brows and shook her head, "It's not that bad, I think I just hit my ankle when I fell." She made it a point to avoid his strong, assessing stare.

"I see." He stood and cleared their plates, then brought back two bottles of cold water. Eren reached forward and nearly snatched the bottle from his hand as he set it onto the dark wood of the square dining table. She greedily downed nearly half the bottle, finally feeling the lack of water taking its effect.

Levi's eyes widened as she drained the bottle, and without a word her offered her his as well. She thanked him with a nervous nod of her head and drank from his until she seemed satisfied.

"Why…" she began hesitantly, vainly hiding her face behind the water bottle, "Why am I here?"

Levi sat with his elbow handing off the back of the chair, one leg crossed over the other and hand loosely balled against the tabletop, staring at Eren impassively. "Because this is the safest place for you."

Eren squeezed the bottle in her hand. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I care about you."

She furrowed her brows, "But I barely know you…? This...this isn't normal…" he said nothing in reply so she continued her questions, "How long are you going to keep me here?"

"Until I think you're safe enough on your own."

"What? What the hell is that supposed to mean, I'll be fine on my own, why can't you just let me leave? It's my life, not yours, why are you so bent on prying into my business?"

Levi blinked, calm and emotionless expression still on his face, "I believe I already answered that. The world is cruel Eren, and for you it's become particularly dark. You've managed to catch the attention of the wrong people; I'm partly to blame for that, so I'm taking the responsibility of caring for you until you're able to care for yourself."

"Partly to blame…the wrong people? What are you talking about?" she thought back to past several months of her life, "You mean those thugs?" Levi nodded, "But that was just a coincidence right? I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time…I'm really unlucky, that's all…right…?" she was trembling as all the events began to fit together. "M-my mother…it…but that was an accident…wasn't it?" A single tear fell down her pallid cheek.

Levi simple shook his head, "I don't know all the details…but from I do know, I can tell you that it was no accident Eren. She was murdered, just like you were about to be before I brought you here."

Her eyes widened in horror and she felt the sick feeling return. She threw her hand over her mouth and looked up at Levi in a silent plea.

Alarmed, though not entirely surprised by her display, he rushed around the table and guided her to the nearest bathroom down the hall. He stayed by her side, holding her hair out of her face while she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. When he was sure she'd finished, he flushed the foul smelling substance away and patted down her feverish, sweat filled forehead with a cool damp cloth. He helped her to the sink and let her rinse her mouth, then fished out a new toothbrush and a bottle of paste. Once she finished brushing her teeth, he led her back to his bedroom and helped her into his bed.

When she was tucked in and comfortable, he returned to the kitchen to bring her more water, knowing she'd be terribly dehydrated. Grabbing one for himself and several extra for Eren, he returned to his bedroom and sat in chair he'd spent the previous night in. After watching her drift in and out of sleep for nearly half an hour, he deemed her stable enough to leave alone for a short time, while he took a well deserved shower and rid himself of the grime that had accumulated since their arrival in his house. He set to cleaning his home, and then returned to the room when it was back in its pristine, clean smelling condition.

Eren's lids fluttered open at the sound of metal clinking against metal. She watched the door open, and Levi slid in silently. He set, what looked like a set of keys onto his desk, and then walked over to sit in his chair. 'He looks exhausted,' she thought to herself, feeling guilty for her brattish, but understandable behavior. Without another thought, she pushed herself up from the warm sheets of his queen sized bed and reached forward to grab a hold of his hand. It was cold, but the skin was soft, and smooth.

"H-hey," she started, Levi's tired eyes opened and focused on her, "you can sleep here if you want…I-I'll go back to the other room."

"Hmm?" he questioned, "I want you to be as comfortable as possible. You can stay here."

She shook her head in protest, "No, it's not fair, this is your bed, and you should sleep in it. I slept fine last night, but you look really exhausted. You can even lock me in the room…I won't try to run again…" she was almost pleading with him.

Levi's lips curled in a small smile and blinked his heavy lids, "And what if you have another nightmare, hmm? What you need is rest and you're going to get it here. You said so yourself." He leaned forward and patted her head, easing her back down into the sheets.

With an indignant puff, Eren obeyed his silent commands and slid back into the comforting embrace of the white, silk sheets. She stared at him for a moment longer and then spoke, "You could still sleep here you know…" to emphasize her words, she pushed herself further back along the bed, to offer Levi a space to slip in under the covers. She was scared of him, yes, but that didn't mean that she wasn't grateful to him for saving her so many times. She quite literally, owed him her life and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

Levi opened his tired eyes once more to see space she'd offered him. He felt so very tempted to accept her offer, but somewhere in the back of his mind, perhaps it was the angel he'd refused to listen to earlier, or maybe it was his own, guilt ridden consciousness telling him to deny the offer. He didn't deserve to be comfortable; he didn't deserve to be so openly welcomed into her arms. With a drained smile, he shook his head to politely declined the offer and shut his eyes.

Eren followed in suit, all thoughts of escaping into the uncertainty that awaited her outside the cold house buried deep in her mind. She settled comfortably and fell back into a fitful sleep, waking often to drink water and rid herself of the uncomfortable dryness in her mouth and throat.


	9. Dear Rabbit - Part 3

**A/N: **

**x-sosei-x: Haha, you can be both! Because I am. I'm a little annoyed with Levi's persistence, but at the same time, I love him for wanting to protect Eren so much. Gah. Wow. Sounds weird saying that when I'm the one writing it...heh.**

**Chapter Seven– Dear Rabbit – Part 3**

For the next two days, following their spat, Eren took residence in Levi's bedroom. She still struggled to keep her meals down, but was able to save her energy by resting as much as possible. Levi made sure of that. He'd decided to make the food as bland as possible, so as not to upset her, still very much delicate, system. On the third day Eren had taken residence in his home, a mere four days before his vacation was set to end, he'd managed to get her to come to terms with staying under his care for at least the time being. He tried to make her understand just how dangerous the legion was, and how vulnerable she was, blindly roaming around, especially without a legal guardian.

He'd explained to her that she may have been safe with the Ackerman's during the time immediately after her mother's passing, but that was only because she had not yet been spotted in their home yet. "The fuckheads running the show," as he put it, hadn't managed to figure out where she'd gone; that's why they stalked her apartment complex, waiting for her to return, just as she had the night of the last attack. When he assured her that the Ackerman's and Arlert's, along with anyone else they had seen her associate with would be attacked, and possibly killed if she made contact with them or tried to run to them, that buried almost all the voices of resistance in her head telling her to run, _almost_.

It was midday, on the tenth day of Levi's two week vacation, when he received a call from work. The last he'd checked, Eren was soundly napping the afternoon away. She'd been able to hold down breakfast and her appetite was returning; he'd never been so grateful for the ravenous hunger that made most teen's stomachs, bottomless pits.

Levi clicked his tongue when he saw the caller ID flash across his phone screen, he picked up the device and slid his thumb across the screen to answer, "Erwin, I'm still on vacation, this had better be important or else I'm hanging up." Levi's tone held a tinge of sarcasm in it, though it still remained stoic and professional.

"You know I wouldn't disturb you for something that wasn't." The words were light, but held urgency in them.

"So?" Levi questioned, peeking into his bedroom briefly to make sure the ring hadn't drawn Eren from her slumber. Satisfied to see her still sleeping soundly, he closed the door and made himself comfortable in the recliner in his living room.

"She's gone Levi."

Levi's tone remained calm, "Who's gone? What the hell do you mean?"

Erwin's tone fell, the words were low, and serious as he continued, "Eren Yeager has vanished. We received a concerned call from the Ackerman's two days ago, when she reportedly went missing. Apparently she'd been on her way to finish packing up her apartment and managed to convince them to let her go alone."

"So what? You think she ran?" Levi clenched his knee.

"It's possible, but not likely." Erwin stated.

Levi remained silent, waiting for Erwin to continue.

"A day after the report was filed, a few of our officers were dispatched to check out her apartment, hoping to find any signs or traces of where she could have gone or what could have happened."

"And? Stop beating around the bush and fucking tell me."

"They found nothing but the weak smell of bleach. There appeared to be faint blood stains in the living space, but whoever cleaned it up did an incredibly thorough job. Hange has been in the lab trying to analyze the few samples we were able to get; we won't have those results for another two weeks. We still have almost nothing to go on."

That caught Levi by surprise. He'd only had enough time to clean himself up and try and remove any evidence that _he_ had been there. Admittedly he'd used an excessive amount of bleach, so the smell was likely his doing, but that didn't explain how the three dead bodies that should have been there, rotting like the maggot meals they were, weren't. He narrowed his eyes and thought of the possibilities. 'Could someone have seen me and cleaned up as a kind act? No, that's complete bullshit and I know it…unless, Erwin is just lying? Does that mean he knows I have her…I need to be careful if he does... shit, but he wouldn't tell such a blatant lie, he's smarter than that. Did those bastards have backup? Maybe they realized that those meatheads hadn't returned and they sent a reconnaissance team? That's most likely it…I have some things to look into, but for now I need to get this asshole off the phone and off my back.'

"So let me guess, you wanted to know if I've seen the kid?"

"Yes, you did seem…close to her. Am I mistaken?" Erwin's amused tone returned.

"You aren't, we have a bit of history," Levi continued on with a sarcastic bite, "not that it's any of your damn business."

Erwin chuckled, "I figured as much. I just wanted to call and check, we have to cover all of our bases on this one. I expect that you'll report as soon as you've learned anything concerning Miss Yeager's whereabouts."

"I'll do some digging if that's what you're asking. Lucky for you, I'm still on vacation so I have plenty of time to pull weeds."

"Alright then, I'll leave it to you to cultivate. I hope your vacation has gone well nonetheless, and sorry to disturb you with such sinister news."

"You can stop with the gardening bit now, you killed it. I'll see what I can find, now hang up and let me get back to cleaning." He heard a hearty chuckle until it was cut off by a sharp tone, indicating that the other line had hung up and the call had ended.

Levi sighed deeply and started towards his kitchen to make himself a much needed cup of tea to help ease the oncoming headache. One he started heating the water, he began rummaging through his pantry and then fridge, sighing heavily as he realized his food supply was falling low. 'I need to go grocery shopping soon,' his attention was drawn away from the dwindling supplies in his kitchen when he heard the sound of footsteps, softly padding towards the kitchen.

He turned and smiled, a bit surprised and concerned to see Eren out of bed and walking around. "Sleep well?" he questioned, walking over to the dining table and pulling out a chair for her to sit.

"Mhm," was the mumbled response, "your bed is really comfortable."

"Glad to hear it," he pulled out another cup from his cupboard and set to making their drinks, "tea or hot cocoa?" he questioned over his shoulder. She perked up at the mention of 'hot cocoa.'

"Tea is fine." She sounded a bit reluctant.

Levi nodded and prepared two cups. He made sure to add honey to Eren's, since she didn't seem to be a fan of the subtle bitterness in the flavor.

"Tea it is," he set the cup down and seated himself next to her at the square table. She smiled and accepted the warm ceramic cup with a grateful nod.

They sat and enjoyed a strange silence. Eren had nearly finished her cup when Levi spoke again, "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Hungry." She offered a small smile and finished her warm drink.

Levi stood and took her empty cup along with his, heading towards the kitchen, "Then I better get started on something huh?"

Eren simply nodded and stayed put, watching him work his way through the ingredients until a meal was finished and ready to be served. To both Eren and Levi's delight, she cleaned her plate and asked for seconds before returning to bed for the evening.

* * *

><p>With only two days remaining of his vacation, Levi decided it was finally time to run his errands. Levi stood at the side of his bed, leaning over to stroke the aberrant hairs that ran amuck on the sleeping girl's face, "Eren," he called softly, "I need you to wake up." He continued his gentle strokes until she began to stir. When her eyes opened and focused on him, he continued on, "Sorry to disturb you, but you need to get up."<p>

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, letting a quiet groan escape as she dropped her legs over the side of the bed and her feet hit the cold wood flooring, "It's okay, wh-ah-at's up?" she yawned and looked up at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

Levi barely suppressed a chuckle at her actions. "I'm going out for a little while; I need you to go back to your room while I'm gone."

Eren spoke before her sleep hazed mind could process the words, "But I'm in my room?"

He smiled and ruffled her hair, "Yes, this does seem to be your room now. But it's…safer for you in the other room, so I still need you to go back there."

As the words set in and processed, she stood from the bed and followed Levi down the hall and to the room without further protest. She briefly glanced at the entryway, and remembered her attempt to escape, but returned her focus to Levi's back without a second thought. Levi opened the door and gestured for her to enter the space. When Eren sat on the cold sheets of the bed she'd spent her first night in, she realized what he was going to do.

"Are you…going to lock me in here again?" She didn't sound hurt, only a bit disappointed. 'Of course he is, I tried the run the second I got the chance…idiot.'

Levi looked conflicted for moment, and then his stoic mask returned. "For now yes," he started towards the bed where Eren sat, and hesitantly reached out to stroke her head. As he approached, she watched him, almost curiously, and allowed him to make contact. To Levi's surprise, she leaned into his touch, even as his caresses fell from the top of her head to her face. "But I'll be back as soon as I can to let you out again."

Eren smiled sadly, "Saying it like that makes it sound like I'm your pet or something…"

Levi's eyes widened in surprise, then returned to their normal narrowed state. "That's not what I intended Eren, I'm sorry."

She nodded and he pulled his hand away, "I know." She stood in front of the bed and pulled the sheets back before slipping under them, without looking at Levi, who she heard retreating back towards the door, she spoke quietly, "Just …hurry."

Levi stared at her, a strange mix of sadness and happiness blooming in his chest. He wasn't sure if he was meant to hear those words, but he did, and it made it all the more difficult to shut the door and turn the key. He sighed and started towards the entryway. As he locked the door, he gave his home one more, long look, then opened his garage. Within several minutes, he was in his car and driving down the street towards the nearest grocer, intent on returning as quickly as possible to free the precious being he'd just locked away.


	10. Dear Rabbit - Part 4

**A/N:**

**For future progress updates and whatnot, you can follow my tumblr, ****haruka-hourou and or ****twitter ( HarukaHourou). **

**Updates and progress for all my fics and art and cosplay can be found in the 'My Works' ****link**** on my tumblr, as well as on my Instagram ( haruka_hourou)**

**zirii: It's still short but hopefully still good!?**

**Chapter Eight– Dear Rabbit – Part 4**

Nearly two weeks had passed since Levi returned to the precinct from his vacation.

It was rough at the start, especially for Levi, locking Eren in her room- turned cell- every morning before he left, and spending his lunch breaks driving across town just to spend a measly ten, sometimes fifteen minutes depending on traffic, with her and making sure she ate and was feeling well. As well as a soon to be eighteen-year-old girl could feel while being locked away for the better hours of the day and afternoon.

For the first several days, Erwin questioned Levi's sudden want, to eat his meals separately from him, but they were both adults, and his coworker had always been on the peculiar side, not to mention his less than reputable background. Although Erwin wanted to know the reasons behind his partner's odd behavior, he respected Levi enough not to survey him with questions. Erwin was also certain that his partner's odd new habit had something to do with the missing girls' cases that the department had been hammered with for the past three weeks.

Levi seemed a bit more distant that usual, Erwin simply chalked it up to being his way of coping with things. The missing Eren Yeager girl, likely weighed heavily upon Levi's mind, making him seem to be not all there.

As it stood, they had no leads aside from the names of the three, currently-MIA, but at this point, very likely deceased men, whose blood was found in Eren Yeager's apartment. Erwin knew Levi had been working fervently to find any proof that would link the only suspects to the infamous legion, the man looked like he hadn't slept for days, it was alarming, but Levi was a grown man. He could make his own decisions and he knew his limits, or at least Erwin hoped he did, particularly when it came to his health.

As the weeks progressed, Erwin grew increasingly impatient with the stagnant, almost nonexistent progress of this particular missing person's case. He'd begun contemplating whether or not to ask their superior to just take Levi completely off the case, it didn't seem to be doing him any good, especially whenever they thought they'd finally found a lead, only to have their plans blown up in their faces as they were led to yet another, literal dead end.

The homicide rate for young women and teenage girls was alarming. In the past three weeks alone, three girls had gone missing, two of those missing girl were found dead. Both of them had been brutally mutilated, one was disfigured almost beyond recognition, yet the first missing girl, Eren, had yet to be found, dead or alive. Seeing as they had yet to find a body, or any parts of her body for that matter, the department, and her friends, could only hope that she was still alive, and simply hiding, or being detained somewhere.

Erwin had honestly suspected Levi to be behind the Yeager girl's disappearance, but when Levi had returned from his brief leave, and the bodies of the girls started popping up, he had to reconsider his private list of suspects. He knew Levi well, they'd been partners for nearly five years now, and he knew for a fact that Levi would never hurt someone who he deemed was non-threatening or defenseless, let alone kidnap and murder young women. Young women, who seemed to have no other correlation aside from their ages and…appearances. Whoever was going after these girls had an odd interest in young females with brown hair and green eyes.

The department was left to deal with the grief-stricken parents and families, concerned friends, and even more terrified mothers and grandparents calling in, in maddening volumes, concerned for their green eyed, brunette children and grandchildren. Whoever was doing this was either a sick fetishist with too much time on their hands, or someone trying to make a point. Someone who was meticulous and hell bent on leaving a very unique, and gruesome calling card, one that set both Erwin and Levi on edge.

_Sooner or later we'll find her, and until we do, they'll keep dying. Make your choice. _

_Them. _

_Or Her. _

* * *

><p>Four days before Eren's eighteenth birthday, she sat in the room she'd nicknamed her 'cell' for the twelfth day since Levi had returned to work. She'd been incredibly anxious for the first week of her holding, pacing back and forth, jumping in place, screaming into her pillow to muffle her cries of anxiety and dread, and sleeping to try and suppress as much of her anxious energy as she could, only waking to eat and spend a few quiet moments with Levi before she was locked away again.<p>

She hated Mondays and Thursdays. On those awful days, Levi had to be at the department by 6AM, which meant waking up before 5AM to prepare for the day and get to the office on time. Levi hated being late as much as Eren hated being woken up and moved to the cell at 4:55 AM every Monday and Thursday.

* * *

><p>Eren stared at the small clock on the wall and watched the seconds tick by. One. Two. Three…Forty-three. Forty-four. Forty-five…Fifty-eight. Fifty-nine. Zero. One. Two. Three…<p>

She soon nodded off to sleep, slumping against the soft, fresh sheets, letting her bored mind wander. Her only freedom now lie in her dreams, where she was able to run around the house unsupervised, to go outside and smell the fragrance of the spring's first blooms. Where she was free to get fresh air, and not breathe the stale, recycled air that ran through the ventilation system of the house. How she longed to be in the sun again, to take a long walk whilst watching it set in the sky, and to greet the lesser light of the moon as the greater of the two faded, to light up the other side of the world; to dance in the rain; to see Mikasa; to listen to Armin tell them about another of his most recent reads… to just be free. She didn't want to be caged like some animal, being fed and kept like a prized poodle or a delicate young rabbit.

The sound of keys rattling brought Eren's consciousness back to the surface, she slowly pushed herself up from the bed, then smiled upon seeing Levi's, still fully uniformed figure, leaning against the door frame.

"You're back." It was a statement, rather than an observation. Eren hastily stretched and hopped out of the bed, eager to stretch her legs.

"I am. How are you feeling?" Levi watched her closely as she approached the opened door.

He let out a surprised huff when she wrapped her arms around him. "Welcome home." After getting over the initial shock, caused by the affectionate gesture, Levi wrapped his arms around Eren's soft, warm body.

"I'm home." He breathed out; too tired to reprimand himself and show the restraint he'd been barely able to keep, the past several weeks.

Their tender moment was interrupted by an angry grumble originating from both of their stomachs.

"I'm hungry," Eren grinned and met Levi's amused eyes. The two stared at each other in a tense silence for a moment, before the tension was swept away with the soft giggles that escaped Eren's throat, which were soon accompanied by Levi's own, subdued, but robust laughter.

Being with Eren made him feel human. She didn't treat him like the monster he knew she should, like a wild beast that needed to be caged, rather than be the one to cage the defenseless and naturally faultless creature. He was a monster, but she still greeted him when he came home, she talked with him and encouraged him to share his day with her, she shared her meals with him, allowing him to eat with her, and bask in her perfection, her beauty…her complete and pure innocence. The snow white innocence he longed to have for himself, to drape over and shroud his bloodstained past and his filthy, undeserving tar black soul.

* * *

><p>They sat at the small dining room table, eating in a comfortable silence, save from the rumbles of Eren's stomach and the slurping of sauce.<p>

"You never answered my question."

"Hmm? What question?" Eren said in between mouthfuls.

"How are you feeling?"

"Ah…oh um, fine I guess. Tired."

Levi scrunched his brows, his tone now full of concern, "Tired… are you not sleeping well? Nightmares?"

"N-no, not anything like that. I've been sleeping okay…and the nightmares aren't that bad. Really." She paused and twirled the noodles on her plate, picking up the fork and stabbing it into a piece of chicken. Levi said nothing, patiently waiting for her to continue. "It's just that…well, I was wondering…"

He sighed, "What is it Eren? If you want something, you know all you need to do is ask. The worst that could happen is that I'll say no. So go ahead, what is it?"

"I-I really don't like being locked in that room!" She rushed the words out so quickly that it almost surprised Levi.

"I know that, but we both know why I do it, Eren, trust me, I don't like it either." His expression grew grim.

"But… I won't try and run again, so why can't I just be free in the house all day? I'd like that a lot better, and you wouldn't have to come all the way back just to let me out for lunch. I can cook and even clean if you want. Anything really, just please don't lock in there again!" Levi opened his mouth to counter her plea, but she continued on fervently, cutting him off, "I live here too now, so why is that I feel so unwelcomed? Shouldn't I be able to walk around my own house? Is that really too much to ask!?"

Eren stared at Levi, holding as intense a look as she could muster under his powerful gaze. Her lip quivered, and she bit it to still its motions. She was scared. But she was also certain that he wouldn't hurt her. It was that faint glimmer of hope she held onto, that quieted the voices in her head and restrained the terrors of her nightmares. It was that certainty, which she prayed right now, would work in her favor to calm the storm quickly forming in Levi's features.

'He won't hurt me, he's not like them,' she tried to quiet the voice, 'stay calm Eren, stay calm and stay firm. Do not yield. Not to this.'

_Get away from here. _

Her eyes grew wider as the manic look in his features raged on, the lip biting hardly helped still her quivers, so much so, that she bit through the soft flesh, puncturing her bottom lip and continued to bite down harder, disregarding the coppery tang that seeped into her mouth and spread across her tongue.

_He's coming. _

Levi stood, the force and speed with which he did so, knocked the chair backwards. His heated gaze focused on Eren as he rounded the table and stood in front of her seated and now trembling form.

"Eren." He reached forward, and firmly gripped her face, forcing her jaw open with his thumb and index fingers, trying to pry the guilty canines away from the abused flesh of her lower lip. "Eren stop it."

_They're coming._

She stared up at him blankly. 'Huh, what is…why is he so close? Stop…stop what?...I-oh…I don't feel so good…'

Her breathing became more labored, as she found it increasingly more difficult to take oxygen sufficient breathes.

"Eren?" Levi's eyes grew wide, his hand fell from her face and he gripped her shoulders to prevent her from falling back.

Her heart started beating faster. _Run, they're coming Eren. Run. They'll get you if you don't…RUN. _Her skin turned red, the faint tan she had, quickly masked by the angry flush that came with the sudden increase in her body temperature. _Run. _The sweat began to build and run down her forehead, cascading over her pink cheeks and dripping from her ruddy nose. _It's too late. They're here._

"GET AWAY NO DON'T TOUCH ME NO!" Eren screeched, flailing, kicking, and scratching at Levi's face, arms, hands. Whatever she could reach. The pasta she'd been eating fell to floor, the ceramic dish shattering as it sent the tomato-sauced meal spilling to the ground. A piece of the broken dish managed to graze Eren's leg and a small trail of blood slid down the appendage to join the miniscule puddle that formed from the fragments lodged into the bottom of her wildly stomping foot.

Within moments of the initial attack, Levi had Eren restrained in his arms and pulled away from the table and the mess of ceramic, spaghetti, chicken, and blood that was now splattered across his dining room floor.

Her thrashing and screams continued as he tried to take her to her room. He needed to treat her foot as soon as possible lest she lodge the ceramic pieces in further. He needed her to stop fighting him, and to stop screaming.

With both his hands occupied with restraining her and holding her off the ground, he had few options available to silence her banshee-like screeches. With a moment's hesitation, and a quickly whispered, "Please forgive me," he pinned her to the wall and slotted his mouth over hers, swallowing her bellowing cries with as platonic of a kiss as his desire laden system could sustain.

At first, it seemed like his efforts were fruitless, as she continued to fight against him, but as she began to run out of air, her anxiety-high mind, too frazzled to allow her brain's involuntary commands of breathing to get through, she stiffened in his hold. Eren rested her weight against Levi and fell limp in his arms as her need for oxygen became greater and more pressing than the rapid amount of adrenaline surging through her veins.

When Levi felt her weight leaning more fully on him, he wrapped his arms tighter around her, then pulled away, separating his lips, from Eren's widely agape mouth. Taking this opportunity, he hurried to her room and carefully placed her atop the covers, taking special care to cradle her head and prop up the injured foot.

After making sure she was stable, he dashed to his bathroom, located the first aid kit and nearly sprinted back to Eren's side, ready to remove the ceramic debris and thoroughly clean and treat her, unintentionally, self-inflicted injury.

* * *

><p>When Eren was finally resting comfortably on the bed, foot propped and wrapped up; Levi let his exhausted body, slump against the wall and slid to sit on the hardwood floor. He let his head fall forward, resting on his hands, propped up by his knees, and closed his eyes, intending only to rest for a few moments before picking himself back up to go and clean the colossal mess on his dining room floor.<p>

'What the hell was that, why was she screaming…Eren…what's wrong,' he scrunched his hidden brows in frustration, 'what have I done to you…?'


	11. Dear Rabbit - Part 5

**A/N**

**I've received several comments/questions about Eren's behavior in the last chapter. Perhaps I should have mentioned this before, but, Eren suffers from developing cases of PTSD and Anxiety. The 'voices' she hears are not actually there, they're all in her head. **

**Chapter Nine– Dear Rabbit – Part 5**

"Eren," Levi knocked lightly on her bedroom door, he heard no response. "Eren, I'm coming in."

He'd stopped locking her in the room, since the incident a few days before. Despite her newly gained freedom to wander around the house in Levi's absence, for the past three days of this liberation, she'd been held up in bed, her foot still too tender to walk on.

Levi entered the dark space, first aid kit in hand, and flipped the switch, illuminating the plainly furnished space.

"Sorry if I woke you, but it's about time to change your bandages and dinner is almost ready." He kneeled at the side of the bed, and waited for her to adjust herself in an upright position.

"It's alright. I wasn't sleeping anyway." She stared forward blankly, and pulled the sheets back to expose her slowly healing appendage.

Without another word, Levi got to work on removing to the old bandages to clean and treat the wounded flesh of her foot. He noticed that the bruises across the top of her ankle had darkened to a purplish, almost black color. She'd really done a number on herself, the most likely explanation for the bruising was that, somehow, in her mad thrashing fit, she'd kicked the leg of the chair or table too hard, but didn't register the pain, just as she hadn't realized that she'd lodged six pieces of the broken ceramic dish into the bottom of her foot.

He'd finished wrapping the fresh bandage around her abused appendage and looked up to check her face for any signs of discomfort. He was met with glossy, wide emerald eyes, the tears that threatened to spill made her eyes sparkle and appear more beautiful to Levi than they should have.

"Eren-" Levi started but was cut off by Eren's voice.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, she took a deep breath and focused her gaze on her trembling hands before continuing, "I've been nothing but trouble to you and you've just been looking after me all this time," she paused to wipe a few tears that fell from her eyes, and sniffled "it's been weird, and uncomfortable, but I've had time to think about it, and I really can't fault you for your actions…and I want you to know that I…I don't hate you for them…I do disagree with how you've done it, but you've kept my friends and I safe…and for that… I'm forever grateful." She paused, and tightly gripped the bed sheets, "So I-I mean…what I'm trying to say is…thank you Levi…for everything."

She turned her flustered face to the side, hoping that Levi would just accept the words without further question and leave, like he usually did after checking on her. Eren wanted nothing more than to bury herself under the covers and hide from the world and her own embarrassment at the honest confession that had been eating at her nerves for the past several days.

After numerous seconds of silence, which seemed to stretch on like minutes, Eren peeked from under her unkempt fringe, to see Levi's face. He stared, awestruck, mouth slightly agape and narrow grey eyes, widened by several factors.

Eren began to feel very self conscious of the situation and quickly diverted her eyes back to her lap, busying herself with the sheets as she tried to ignore the disbelieving gaze, boring into her head. "S-sorry if that was random…but I just really needed you to know that…" this time she looked up, to meet Levi's slightly less-shocked eyes, "I-I don't hate you…though, I honestly don't know how I feel about you, but I know for sure it's not hate…not even dislike." She smiled a little, hoping to lighten the odd tension that she'd created in the room.

Levi's expression softened, from that of a shocked, almost disbelieving one, to that of a genuinely happy, bordering on peaceful look. Before he could stop himself, he'd already pulled Eren into his arms, in firm, but gentle hold.

Eren stiffened for a moment, surprised by the affectionate display, "L-Levi?"

His hold tightened momentarily before he pulled back enough to plant a quick kiss to her forehead and then completely released her.

"Thank you Eren."

She stared, speechless, at the calm that had peacefully usurped his features. 'I don't think I've ever seen him smile before…it's so…beautiful,' without another thought, she reached out and placed her hand across his cheek. She leaned forward, almost hesitantly, lightly tracing the curves and contours of his cheek and lips with her fingers. She felt the heat pooling in her own cheeks as she continued to lean forward, carefully balancing on her shins as she reached out her other hand to grasp Levi's unoccupied cheek.

Her eyes were wide with surprise at her own actions, as well as a hint of curiosity, as she closed the distance between them. She was barely centimeters from his lips when she flinched from the pain shooting through her foot, it wasn't intense, but it was enough for the discomfort to register on her features.

"Eren?" Levi quickly pulled her away and helped her back into a comfortable sitting position, the deep blush on her cheeks did not go unnoticed as he did so, but he made no indication of wanting to continue on from where they left off. "You need to be more careful," he turned to start towards the bedroom door, "dinner will be ready shortly, so try and rest up until then alright?" He looked over his shoulder to see her nod quickly and hide under the covers.

His expression softened at her display for a moment before reverting back to his usual, impassive scowl. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, leaving it open just a sliver in case Eren called for him.

When she heard him exit the room, and his footsteps began to fade as he distanced himself from her bedroom, Eren peeked from under the covers she'd been hiding in, and then let out a deep sigh. 'What the hell was I about to do…what was that?' she thought back to how her body seemed to move on its own, like she was drawn to him, 'I wasn't going to…kiss him was I?' as her thoughts continued, she felt her cheeks grow uncomfortably hot and hid her face further in her open hands, hoping that she was really just having a somewhat pleasant and vivid dream and that she hadn't actually almost had her first kiss.

She ran lightly ran her fingers across her own lips, thoughts teetering between what it would be like to kiss someone, and how it would feel if that someone was Levi.

Eren shut her eyes and snuggled into the warmth of the covers as she felt her body relax, a great deal of tension having been released with the words she'd spoken aloud to Levi moments ago. She quickly slipped into a state of semi-consciousness, making up for the hours that she spent staring at the ceiling without rest for the past several days.

* * *

><p>Eren sat stiffly at the kitchen table, her eyes shut tightly while her hands rested in a tense hold on her lap. Levi had asked her to wait there, and was adamant that she didn't peek until he gave her permission to open her eyes. She could hear the light shuffling of his feet, darting around the area, his footsteps made slightly different sounds depending on if he was on the hardwood flooring of the dining and living space or the tiled flooring of the kitchen. The smell of roasted meat and vegetables filled the space, making Eren's stomach grumble in anticipation.<p>

The heat from the dishes being placed in front of her combined with their enticing scents, made it all the more difficult to keep her eyes shut, and hands to herself as Levi went back and forth from the kitchen to the dining table, filling it with more delectable and tempting dishes for their quaint celebration. Soon, the savory aromas that filled the space were met with a light, but undeniably sweet scent, that joined in as Eren heard the dishes being placed on the table.

Levi chuckled to himself while he watched Eren's eyes shut tighter as he brushed a few stray hairs out of her face, 'She needs a haircut soon,' he smiled and stepped back to stand behind her seated form.

"Alright, you may open your eyes now," he paused a moment and waited for her to take in the spread, "Happy Birthday Eren."

She eagerly opened her eyes and sucked in her breath excitedly. The roast was adorned with freshly cut herbs and roughly chopped carrots along the sides of the dish. To its side, was a bowl of garlic potatoes and another of deliciously green peas. Directly in front of her were three dishes, each had a different, petite cake placed upon it.

"Levi…this is," she turned and stood from her chair, and threw her arms around him, "this is wonderful…thank you." She pulled back and offered him a teeth bearing grin, then turned to sit back at the table to gawk at the meal her stomach had been begging for.

He stepped forward and placed his hand on her head, lightly ruffling the unkempt, but soft locks, "Glad you like it kiddo," she turned and flashed him an indignant look, obviously offended by his word choice, "or would you prefer brat?" he challenged, smirking as he made his way to his seat on the other side of the table, "You're a bit too young for me to be calling you ma'am, so I guess young lady will just have to do."

Eren narrowed her eyes and huffed, "Or you could just call me by my name old man." She snickered into her hand and tried to hide the wide smile on her face.

"Oh? Think that's funny huh?" Eren nodded with more enthusiasm than necessary, "Do you make it a habit of trying to kiss 'old men' then?" he gestured to himself. And raised one eyebrow in challenge.

'That caught you off guard you smart-ass.' He chuckled as he watched Eren's face go from amused to abashed within seconds, her cheeks immediately turning red as she averted her eyes down to her lap.

"I-I um…well about that, um…I…" she fumbled her words, mumbling something so lowly that Levi wasn't able to clearly make it out, though it sounded similar to an 'I'm sorry,' or 'I thought you forgot,' perhaps even both.

Satisfied with his victory, Levi's smirk, widened to a grin momentarily before he cleared his throat, "Alright, enough with this. I know you're hungry because I definitely am, and I did not slave away in the kitchen all day on my day off just to let this meal sit here and get cold."

Eren's features eased and she smiled, looking up shyly through her bangs before scrunching her brows momentarily, "But wait…I remember putting a tub of pre-made garlic potatoes away in the fridge a few days ago? You didn't make those." She pointed to the guilty bowl full of the starchy vegetable.

"True, but I did have to heat it up and make it look nice," he countered, handing Eren a clean plate so she could serve herself.

"And the cakes? There's no way you could have made these and the roast today." She plated a generous portion of the tender beef and carrots, followed by a heaping serving of the potatoes, and peas.

"You caught me there too detective," he said jokingly, "though when I left this morning to go pick them up, you were still as sound asleep, as when I returned."

Eren smiled at that, she couldn't deny that she slept better knowing that she wasn't going to wake up to an empty house. The tragedy of it though, was that she usually ended up sleeping the day away, her body finally able to catch up on the rest it'd missed during the week while Levi worked.

The two sat quietly, enjoying their meal. To Levi's inner delight, Eren served herself and finished off her second helping before going after one of the cakes. 'I'm glad her appetite is coming back.' He cleared the dishes, then returned to the table with two cups of fresh coffee, to go with the remaining two cakes, which he hoped that Eren wouldn't completely devour, though he wouldn't be upset if she did. It was her birthday after all, and she had more than earned the right to be a bit spoiled and pampered.

When he set the cups down on the table, Eren looked at him appreciatively then pushed the two remaining desserts to the center of the table. "Half and half?" she offered with a small smile, handing Levi a fork and waiting for his answer.

"Alright," he agreed, "shall we?" Levi raised his fork and started for the slice of caramel cheesecake while Eren cut into the heart-shaped chocolate and raspberry mousse cake.

After finishing off their desserts, Levi once again, cleared the space and started on the dishes. He turned when he heard the scratching of a chair against the floor and called over his shoulder, "Do you need any help?" He turned down the water so he could hear Eren's reply.

"No, I'm fine, just going to sit in the living room."

Despite her words, Levi paused his dishwashing to watch her subtly limping form, make its way to the sofa. He resumed his cleaning when he saw that she'd sat down and appeared to be comfortable enough. After several more minutes passed, he'd finished washing the dishes and got set on drying them and straightening out the rest of the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Eren sat on the sofa, absently watching Levi clean the kitchen, and then move to the dining room to wipe the table down and sweep up whatever else may have escaped his orderly wrath. In her daze, she almost didn't notice that he'd finished and had joined her in the living space, sitting in his favorite chair and opening up a book he'd started days ago.<p>

She quite enjoyed watching him read, relax, and unwind. It calmed her. Though the reason still remained unknown. Something about seeing his tension fade, the slight droop in his eye, the subtle smile that would show on his lips whenever he got to a good part of his book, and the way the faint lines on his forehead and around his eyes would smooth slightly, making him appear so much younger and approachable, or the warm glint that the lamplight gave to his gray eyes as they traveled through the world of whatever book he'd chosen.

She really loved his eyes. They were so interesting, how at first glance, they appeared so cold and demanding, but once you got used to their subtle changes, they really did express so much. It was becoming easier for her to tell when he was upset, or conflicted, or confused. Like they were now, well, they appeared to be a mixture of a confusion and amusement. 'That's an odd combination,' Eren thought, 'but why does it seem like he's looking at me with that expression?'

It was then that she registered how close she'd crept to Levi, she was practically in his lap, he'd even put the book down and was now staring at her with a concerned expression.

"Eren? What's wrong?"

"Hmm…oh sorry, it's nothing," she started to slowly back away from the chair he was seated in, "why do you ask?"

Levi leaned forward a bit and pulled her back towards him, "You just seem a bit distracted lately," he smiled and guided her to his lap, which she sat in without protest, "and clingy," he added rather quickly and lowly, "not that I mind that."

"Distracted…? I guess… I've just been thinking a lot." She leaned into his hold, resting her head against his shoulder and curling up to make herself more comfortable.

"Oh?" Levi leaned back and let her adjust herself, before wrapping his arm around her waist and returning to his book, "And what's been on your mind?"

"A lot of things." She started to toy with his unoccupied hand.

"Well that's specific," Levi jabbed, allowing his hand to be played with.

"Haha," she voiced sarcastically, then adjusted her position to read a few lines of his book, "What are you reading?" Levi turned the book to the side, to allow Eren to read the title, "Invisible Man?"

"Mhm," was his grunted reply.

"Hmm." Eren hummed lowly and rested back against him, thinking it odd that she found being so close to the man who'd quite literally trapped her in his home, so soothing. She listened to Levi's breathing, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest, soon lulling her into a state of semi-consciousness, then into an unperturbed sleep.

After nearly an hour had passed, Levi placed his marker in the book and gently set it down on the table side, taking care not to jostle Eren, lest he wake her from her slumber.

Just to make sure she wasn't faking her sleep, Levi softly called her name. When she made no indication of stirring, he slowly sat up and looped his arms around her, then stood, ready to carry both their bodies to bed.

He'd already requested permission to have Monday off as well, but he didn't tell Eren that, it was a surprise of sorts. He'd even thought about asking if she wanted to do anything, maybe a movie, a nice restaurant, or even going for a quick stroll in the mall or a park, all far out of town of course. But all those thoughts were roughly shoved from his head as he thought back to cases that have been popping up all over the news and falling in the hands of his department.

There were now three deceased victims, the most recent missing girl's body was found under a tree in a park not even a 20 minute drive from Eren's complex. The poor girl looked like she'd had been out walking her dog, the leash was wrapped tightly around her throat, constricting the airflow, though according to Hange, the forensic scientist on the case, asphyxiation was not the cause of death. Rather, she died of a broken neck, which was likely caused by her body being forcibly crushed into the tree. The leash was added, as Hange put it, "As a cynical message for a sinister and disturbed mind." Whoever was trying to make the point was getting bolder with their messages. Her eyes had been gauged out, but after doing a quick DNA test, they were able to determine that she did indeed fit the pattern of green eyed brunettes that were filling the growing list of young victims, springing up all around the city.

Levi sighed, as he placed Eren on his bed. Willing the images of the grotesquely mangled bodies of the young, female victims out of his head. 'She's alright, she's here, she's safe…that's all that matters, that's all…that matters.' He brushed the hair out of her peacefully slumbering face and tucked her into the bed before he left to shower and clear his head of the unpleasant thoughts gnawing on his mind.

Finally clean, and fresh, Levi climbed into his bed, rolling to his side to give Eren as much room as possible. He didn't quite understand why she seemed to sleep well when he was near, but he wasn't going to protest their lack of distance anytime soon. So long as she desired it, she was more than welcome to share his bed.

**A/N**

**Confused by the 'first kiss' bit? Don't be, allow me to explain. Last chapter, Levi 'kissed' Eren to stifle her cries and help calm her down, but in her hysteria, s_he _ wasn't really present. You can call it a lapse of memory if you will, but Eren doesn't remember that really happening. **


	12. Dear Rabbit - Part 6

**Chapter Ten– Dear Rabbit – Part 6**

_The sound of rain hitting the roof the apartment building lulled the whole of the complex into a calm, restful sleep. Perfectly timed, and coordinated drops meeting the shingles before cascading down the sides of the glass and brick, cleansing the building of its daily filth before ending their journey on the asphalt. Eren had never been a fan of the rain, since it always seemed to catch her at the worst times, but she was not one to deny how calming, refreshing, and renewing it could be, given that she was inside, safe and dry, or had prior warning of an imminent storm and had the chance to take an umbrella before she left her home. _

_She sat, relaxing on the sofa, wrapped in a plush brown throw blanket whilst sipping on a comfortably warm cup of hot cocoa, letting her thoughts drift from the pile of homework she had yet to finish, the chores she'd promised her mother that she'd do faithfully, and the whimsical figures prancing around the screen of the television set. _

_She felt odd, but couldn't quite pinpoint why that was so._

_Eren stood from the sofa, dropping the fluffy coffee throw and abandoning her cooling hot chocolate. She wandered out of the living space in search of something. Something that was missing. Or out of place. Or both. _

_Something wasn't right. The calming pattering of the rain had ceased. Silence filled the apartment. _

_Eren walked towards the window and looked outside, but she saw nothing. The sky was black, everything was black. There were no stars, street lamps, or lights. Nothing. It was as if the window had been painted over with obsidian paint. She ran towards the front entrance of her apartment, concerned with the lack of everything outside the windows, but stood, stagnant._

_She was now in the rain, the rain that now poured without a sound, drenching and chilling her to the bone as she stood in the alleyway. She hurried out of the alley, in search of an awning or small space she could escape from the silent rain fall. After running for no more than a minute, Eren spotted an awning and two oddly familiar figures. She hurried over to dry spot and began her polite request to join the two figures until the storm lessened. _

_She stood frozen in the rain. The sound returned as the rain intensified, falling in violent sheets so thick, that she could no longer see the horrifying image before her._

_Carla's crumpled body lay in a pool of her own blood, throat cut cleanly, open and exposed to the elements. Levi stood next to her lifeless body, bloodied blade in hand, staring sightlessly upwards at the sky, quietly waiting for the storm to end._

* * *

><p>Eren's eyes flew open as she ripped herself from away from the horrifically bizarre nightmare. Her hands immediately flew over her mouth to stifle the silent scream that she was afraid would escape. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, as she tried to calm her breathing whilst repeating to herself, 'It was just a dream, just a dream…' she tightly shut her eyes and felt the cold sweat that had brought her to, drip down the sides of her face, falling from her brow to her chin; it slid down her neck, drenching her nightshirt.<p>

She felt sticky, wet, and terribly alone.

After a few more seconds of rapidly wandering thoughts, she realized that she wasn't in her bedroom. She turned and looked down to her side, to see Levi sleeping soundly, he looked so serene. A flashback from her nightmare quickly ended the fragile peace that had fallen over her and she felt herself pulling away from his side. Her labored breathing returned while she tried to rid her mind of his blood splattered image, only to have it flash back to the night he'd saved her from the thugs that broke into her apartment, then to flash even further back to her mother's funeral, then Mikasa getting kicked, Armin pounded against the wall…all the blood…the bruising…the blood. So much blood.

A few warm drops fell from her tired, puffy eyes.

Eren didn't realize she was crying until she tasted the salty liquid on her lips. Her quiet sobs slowly filled the room, drawing Levi out of his much needed sleep.

"Eren…" he stated groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before pulling himself up and out of the warm sheets, "Eren?" her heard the soft noises along with frequent sniffles. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust, but that didn't stop him from reaching out and pulling her towards him.

"What's wrong, why are you crying?" He kept his voice low, and soothing, the cry was too soft for her to be in physical pain, so it had to have been a bad dream.

"tis'Mmothing" she mumbled, her face still pressed against her knees, despite his efforts to offer her a comforting hold.

"Hmm? What was that?" Levi almost sounded amused, or perhaps it was the sleep still heavy in his voice that made him sound so.

Eren peeked out from behind her knees and whispered again, "It's nothing…sorry I woke you up…" then returned to hiding her face, the crying had stopped but the sniffling persisted on.

"No, don't be sorry. If you're ever scared or lonely, then please, I want you to wake me up. I'm here for you, do you understand?"

All he got in response were a few more sniffles. "Eren?"

She lifted her head fully and wiped some of the tears away; she nodded and offered him a small smile in reply. "I understand."

"Good." Levi shuffled out of bed and moved over to Eren's side, grabbing her by the hand and encouraging her to get up, "Now let's get you cleaned up."

* * *

><p>They returned to bed shortly after, Eren offered to sleep in her room, insisting that she would be okay and that she didn't want to disturb Levi again, but he was hearing none of it. He was adamant that she stay, because they never knew if the nightmares would get worse or any more vivid. He pointed out that she usually never had night terrors when they shared his bed, so it was more beneficial to just stay with him.<p>

Feeling too fatigued to argue further, Eren agreed and slipped back into bed, curling up on her side facing Levi. He mimicked her position on the opposite side of the bed and reached forward to brush the hair out of her face, whispering, "Sleep well," before planting a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Eren couldn't help but lean into his touch, then returned the motion, playfully running her fingers through his silky black hair and reaching forward to plant her own kiss. Her eyes had yet to fully adjust and she'd closed them half way to her intended target, so unlike Levi's kiss, she missed and landed between his perfectly thin brows instead of his forehead. Levi chuckled at her mishap, but said nothing when she questioned his laughter. The moment was soon forgotten as Eren drifted back to sleep, unconsciously pulling closer to the comforting, and welcoming heat of Levi's body.

* * *

><p>The chirping of the morning sparrow is what first drew Eren from her pleasant slumber, feeling rested and incredibly warm. After taking a deep breath, inhaling the comforting scent of woodland forest and freshly cut timber, she opened her eyes and allowed them to focus on the delicious heat that enveloped her body.<p>

Eren was a little surprised by her closeness to Levi's, still slumbering form, they were practically laying flushing in each other's arms, hers held closely to her chest while one of his was draped loosely over her waist, but she made no move to leave the embrace. In the faint morning light, Eren was able to study Levi's sleeping features. That seemingly permanent scowl of his was almost non-existent. He didn't look a day over 20. His eyes were closed, much to her disappointment, but she was able to see just how long and, dare she think, luscious his dark lashes were; for some odd reason, men seemed to always have the most perfect lashes, even Armin's light brown ones were incredible. She reached forward and lightly traced from his cheekbone to the strong bridge of his pert nose, down to his defined, sturdy jaw line, then back up to his slightly parted lips.

Eren gulped as her eyes focused on his lips. She remembered back to the evening when she'd been so drawn to them, and the thoughts that followed the incident. 'I wonder if it's okay…I mean…he's still asleep…I'm sure a light peck won't hurt…they look so soft…' her thoughts cleared, and within seconds of them leaving, she decided that just this once, that she'd indulge this strange urge that she'd begun to feel recently.

Sucking in a quick breath, Eren leaned forward and closed her eyes, meeting Levi's lips with her own for a brief moment, before pulling back and biting her lower lip. She refused to open her eyes, lest she find that they were met with cold gray ones.

Levi first came to when he felt light, feathery touches down his nose, then his jaw, chin, and finally on his lips. Still feeling too tired to open his eyes, and too enamored with the young woman he'd been dreaming of, he sat still, hoping to drift back off to sleep and really enjoy his day off with Eren. Even if it meant starting off a little late, he was sure she'd be the last to protest getting an extra hour or two of sleep in. The soft, curious touches stopped, and not a moment later, he felt the distinct warmth of another's face near his, a short kiss, then a cool draft as the initiator pulled away quickly.

Without opening his eyes, Levi reached forward in search of the pleasant heat again, finding it and pulling it forward to meet his lips once more, in a much more satisfying kiss that lingered.

Less than a few seconds following her sly kiss, Eren found her eyes wide open, as she was pulled forward and their lips met again, brevity gone, as she stared into Levi's still closed eyes, while his hand found its way to the back of her neck and into her bed-mussed hair. After getting over the initial shock, Eren placed her hand on his chest to push back, only to be pulled back in again, with a stronger hold and more forceful kiss.

Levi's lips moved against Eren's, like he was possessed by something, be it passion, aggression, sleep depravity… Eren shut her eyes tightly and found herself melting into the kiss, soon moving her own lips against Levi's just as eagerly as his were against hers. She peeked her eyes open, to find that not only was Levi awake, but staring at her with half lidded storm clouds raging on. Eren broke the kiss again, trying her best to catch her breath, but found herself being flipped on her back and at a loss for air as Levi moved on top of her, meeting her lips lightly, then returning to his aggressive, dominating pace.

He was having this dream again, one of pleasant ones where he and Eren were close, and physical. She wasn't afraid of him and he was allowed to shower her with as much affection as she could handle. Their kissing had begun slowly, she was hesitant, but he soon felt the hesitation of his dream girl fading away into the kiss. He flipped her on her back and moved to sit on her waist, pinning her down gently while letting his passion show through his movement against her soft, deliciously plump lips. He loved these kinds of dreams, though they were often vivid and ended in less than appropriate acts; this one seemed so satisfying, so visceral, so…real.

Levi knew at this point he wasn't going to be able to sleep much longer, he was much too excited by this dream and felt his body, rather, certain parts of his body, slowly rising to attention. He opened his eyes fully and was surprised to find himself pressed so closely to Eren's flustered face. She was really cute in the morning, emerald eyes wide with surprise, cheeks flushed a deep rosy pink, and lips parted in a silent question, so moist, and plump…and inviting…

"L-Levi…?"

His eyes shot open and he all but pounced off the bed, hitting the edge before tumbling down to the floor, and landing with a _thud_, as his body met the rug over the hardwood flooring. He started to pull himself up from the tangle of bed sheets that followed him, splaying out on the floor around him while he pulled his legs out of the silky, and pleasantly warm prison.

"S-sorry about that…I didn't meant to, I thought…my dream…you…" he sighed and took a deep breath while Eren pulled herself up into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her knees while she stared down at the floor with bewilderment plastered on her face as a flustered Levi tried to compose himself. He cleared his throat and began again, a faint pink dusting his cheeks, "I'm sorry, I thought, for some reason that I was still asleep…and dreaming. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable Eren. Please, forget that it happened."

"You dream about me?" Eren asked curiously, crawling to the edge of the bed and letting her feet hang off the sides.

'Shit.' Levi sighed, his mind was now fully alert and while the other part of his body that had been at attention before, was now back to its normal position, slack and unaroused. "Yea, I do…sometimes."

"Oh." Eren said absently, "It's nice to know I'm not the only one then."

"What was that?"

"I-I mean, sometimes I dream about you too. So I…you don't have to apologize because now I know it's normal. I thought I was being really creepy for having dreams about you but…I guess not. It's kind of a relief." Eren closed her eyes as a small chuckle escaped, soon she was joined by Levi's and they both fell into a laughing fit.

'I wish we could wake up like this every morning,' Levi thought to himself, finally standing from the floor and pulling up the sheets with him, he took a moment to admire Eren's still amused form, sprawled across his sheet-less bed, shaking and rolling with laughter as giggles and variously pitched squeaks erupted from her throat.

With a grin apparent on his face, Levi walked out of the room and down the hall to the laundry area, ready to start a load for his sheets. He prepared the washer and put what he already had in his hands in, then returned to his room to find Eren still lying on his bed, curled up while a few more amused noises escaped. Levi sauntered over to the bed and stood waiting, with his hands on his hips, for Eren's laughing fit to cease so he could finish taking all the sheets off for laundering.

Eren heard the door open, then peeked open one eye to see Levi standing over her, waiting with an amused look on his face, she grinned widely and realized that he was waiting for her to get out of bed so he could finish the task he'd just begun. Eren sat back up and stretched, before hoping out of the bed and scurrying to Levi's end of the bed to help him remove the fitted sheet.

"Thanks," he stated, and then started towards the door, he paused and called over his shoulder, "go ahead and wash up, I'll get started on breakfast."

Eren nodded in reply then followed him out the bedroom, heading towards her room for a change of clothes and hot shower.

* * *

><p>The weeks following Eren's birthday went by in a blur of genuine contentment and placidity, Eren enjoyed her newly attained, yet still limited, freedom fully and Levi felt less and less guilt with each passing day. Smiling became easier, conversations longer, and the silences they shared held less awkward air.<p>

Eren lay; curled up on the sofa, reading one of the many books Levi had suggested for her while he finished up on the casserole for their dinner. Soon after the dish was in the oven, Levi joined Eren on the sofa, sitting down and propping his black-socked feet against the leather ottoman.

He nudged Eren's head and she responded by plopping it down in his lap, offering a small grin, then continued to read. Once she finished the page she was on, she marked it, then adjusted herself so that she was laying sideways, using Levi's lap at a pillow. He let out a deep sigh and laid his head back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. His fingers found Eren's hair, and began to stroke the soft chocolate locks, occasionally running his blunt nails lightly against her scalp, eliciting soft hums of approval from Eren as she read on.

Eren finished the last few lines of her chapter and closed the book, resting it against her chest as she relaxed against Levi further, allowing her eyes to slip shut and a small smile to show on her lips.

Their small silence was broken by Eren's quiet voice, "That feels nice."

"Does it now?" Levi asked playfully, "You like it when I scratch behind your ears like a pup?" His tone was sarcastic, with a hint of mirth. Eren didn't have to look up to know he was smiling.

"Keep treating me like one and I may just start to act like it." Eren countered, rolling her body to lay flat on her back, and stare up at Levi's face. She stuck her tongue out teasingly and smiled at the slight frown that replaced his small smile.

"I may just do that." His faced now lacked any apparent emotion, but Eren had learned to study the subtle movements of his features, and she knew that though he looked stoic, he was actually quite content. Levi's fingers traveled from the tips of Eren's unruly locks to the side of her lightly blemished face. He'd bought her a couple products a few weeks back and they seemed to be working fairly well, though she'd never had disfiguring outbreaks of acne, not that it bothered him; everyone got it at some point in life, it always passes, for some, like himself, sooner than others, but she'd voiced her discomfort about her appearance, so he decided to do something about it.

He ran his fingers across her lips, parted and about to counter his words once again, but the protest died before it was spoken. Levi leaned down and pressed his lips against Eren's, lingering for a moment before pulling back up and letting his back pop back into a comfortable position. He relished the look of pure surprise on Eren's face, the rosy color dusting her once sun-kissed, tanned skin, now a few shades lighter, though not nearly as pale as Levi's own fair complexion. He'd always been the type to burn under extended sun exposure rather than tan as beautifully as Eren did.

Sometimes he still couldn't believe that this was his reality. He was finally protecting her, she was living with him, he could hold her close, and he could even kiss her. It was unreal. Too perfect and sublime. He'd never imagined that his future, their future, could have ever held such prospects of intimacy, dare he even think…of love?

Levi was drawn out of his introspection by Eren's shifting; she pulled herself up and out of his lap, to sit next to him on the sofa, book resting in her lap while she leaned down to rest her head against his shoulder. The position was a bit awkward and Eren felt a little discomfort since she had to angle her head much lower, due to Levi's endearing lack of three inches in comparison to her height. She giggled a bit at the strain on her neck and sat upright when she felt Levi's shoulder push her off, obviously peeved at her amusement.

"Scoot." Levi ordered, pointing to the opposite end of the sofa, directing Eren to move away from him. Eren shot him a look of disappointment and protest, but stifled her question and moved away from him with a deep pout apparent on her face. He lifted his leg, swigging it up and over to the back cushions of the sofa, the other followed. After adjusting into a more comfortable position, he called over to Eren, whose back was facing him, "Alright. Come here." She turned and smiled widely, then started to crawl towards him, settling between his spread legs and wrapping her arms around his torso whilst his did the same. Eren rested her head against Levi's chest, enjoying the sound of his beating heart and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

She'd left her book, forgotten on the side table.

"Better?" He asked lowly, returning his hands to her head, running his fingers through the thick, silky, tangle of her hair, 'she really does need a haircut,' he thought to himself, chuckling softly.

"Much," she replied, reaching up to place a quick kiss to Levi's lips before hiding her face in the crook of his neck, giggling lightly, along with Levi's own chuckle, tickling him with her laughter.

Half an hour later, the oven beeped and they both, reluctantly left each other's embrace, but the smell and prospect of another delicious meal made the loss of warmth much more bearable for both of them, especially their stomachs.

* * *

><p><em>~~~~~~~~ One Week Later ~~~~~~~~<em>

The body of newest victim was found hanging from the side of a bridge, in a park, popular for the scenic routes it offered to its patrons while they walked, ran, or rode their bikes through its paths.

She was sixteen, and had been declared missing two weeks prior to them discovering her mangled body. According to her parents, she'd been tricked into leaving their house, but her brother was convinced that she'd run away of her own accord.

Her legs had been broken, most likely before she was killed. The cause of death was asphyxiation. Dark purple bruises in the shape of two large hands were the most likely cause of her suffocation. She was hung on display as an afterthought. During the autopsy, an object was found, lodged in her throat; an eye, a green eye. One that belonged to the previous victim, whose eyes had been gouged out weeks before.

At this point, the whole of investigative team was convinced that someone was trying to get a message across. And they were getting bolder.

* * *

><p>Eren sat in the living room, reading through a recipe book Levi had purchased for her during his most recent shopping trip to pick up her list of essentials. It was nearing early summer already and Eren had persisted on going with him, just to get out of the house for a few hours, but he was vehement that she did not leave the house for any reason, not even to go into the back yard, at least not while he was gone. It was still 'not safe' for her to be seen. Eren huffed as she flipped through the book, 'More like you don't want to get caught,' rolling her eyes at the thought.<p>

'Wait…get caught? Why would I think that…it's like he's done something bad, illegal…well I guess he did technically kidnap me…but no, he saved me…so it's not really kidnapping is it?' she sighed again and flipped to the 'desserts' section, 'But if it was kidnapping…wouldn't that mean I was taken against my will? Well, I guess…at the time I thought so but now…I,' she paused, blushing at the next thought, 'I don't want to leave. I do wish I could go outside though. I wonder how Armin and Mikasa are doing…I hope…I hope I haven't hurt them. I miss them so much.' She closed her eyes sadly and set the recipe book on the leather ottoman before stretching and lying back on the sofa.

'I wonder if he'd ever let me visit them…or maybe bring them here? That's possible right?' her impossibly hopeful thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock against the door.

Eren's eyes shot open in alarm. 'Who is that? We weren't expecting any visitors right? He didn't mention anything…wait…it is lunch time, maybe he just forgot his key?'

The silent house was filled with a loud echo of knocking again. She sat up and hesitantly walked to the front of the house. When the knocking only increased in intensity, Eren grew nervous and hurried to open the door, forgetting to check the peephole and most importantly, forgetting that Levi's house key was on the same ring as his car key.

She opened the door a sliver and saw a tall man, dressed in a black and purple polo and black shorts, holding a box under his arm, Eren looked behind him and saw a large white delivery truck, 'FedEx' printed across the side of it. She opened the door a bit more, feeling much less alarmed.

"Hello?" She said; hesitation still apparent in her tone.

"Hi, delivery for a mister…" the man paused and looked at the package under his arm, "for a Mr. Corporal." Eren stared at the man like he'd sprouted a new limb. "Mr. Corporal Levi."

"Oh," Eren's features visibly brightened, "he's actually at work right now."

"I see," the delivery man said, pressing a few buttons on his signing gun, "and if I may, what is your relation?"

"R-relation…? I mean, um, well I just live here so…"

The man sighed, "How old are you?"

"Sev-Eighteen sir."

"Alright then miss; can you sign for this package so I can finish my route?"

"Um, sure I guess." Eren reached out for the electronic pad and signed her name.

The man nodded and handed her the package, then ran down the walkway back to his truck, pausing to log something before driving down to his next delivery destination. Eren shut the door and locked it. She looked down at the box in her hands curiously. 'His last name is Corporal?' she smiled, having learned a bit more about Levi, while she walked to his bedroom to leave the package on his bed.

She returned to the living room feeling elated, and ready to find something delicious to make for dinner.

* * *

><p>By the time Levi had finally made it home, the sun had long since set, the darkness of the night threatening to invade his cozy home, bringing it with the mystery and misery of another closed case and the mourning cries of yet another family that had lost their daughter. He'd been tasked with delivering the news to the family since Erwin had to take leave for personal reasons.<p>

Having to tell a mother and father that their missing child was not only disfigured, but dead on top of that, was one of the worst things about his job and Levi absolutely hated having to do it. He hated being the bearer of bad news. He felt a little piece of the hope he slowly started to gain back in humanity, thanks to Eren's presence in his life, shatter and fall to the blood soaked earth, every time he had to do so.

It would never be fully restored. Levi's hope in humanity, in the future of humankind. But Eren's constant presence, the moments they shared, no matter how small; were slowly building it back up.

He sat at the entrance; undoing the laces on his shoes and pulling them off, letting his feet breathe and stretch a bit. He heard the shuffling of feet as he stood and was soon greeted by a warm, welcoming hug.

"Welcome home-"

Wrapping his arms firmly around Eren's waist when she tried to pull away from the short hug, Levi buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking in the familiar and comforting scent of fruits, she always smelled so sweet and delectable, like he could devour her and she'd taste like the sweetest berry he'd ever eaten.

"Levi-?" she questioned him as his hold tightened, feeling a bit alarmed at first, but soon relaxing back into the hold. Smiling, she ran her fingers up against his undercut. 'So soft and always well kept.' Eren leaned down and pressed her lips against his head in a soft kiss before pulling back and out of his slackened hold.

Standing apart, still in each other's arms, Eren tried again, smiling when she thought of her newly learned information, "Welcome home Corporal."

The gentle hold he had on her arms suddenly tightened, painfully so. Eren's eyes stared at Levi's in shock at his unpleasant grasp.

"What did you say?"

"W-what? Levi you're hurting me let go." Eren's voice rose in speed and intensity.

Levi's remained low, and slow. "Eren, what did you just say?" He locked her widened, confused peridot eyes with his narrowed, cold steely gaze.

"Welcome home…?" she tried to pull away from him again, his grip only tightened.

"After that."

"C-Corporal…?"

"Where the fuck did you hear that from Eren?"

She was growing impatient and he was hurting her. This had to stop, right now. "What does it matter? Let me go." She tried pulling away again, this time going closer to try and push him away from her, "I said let me go. Levi, you're hurting me… let go damn it."

The last push brought him back to reality, he realized how tight his grip on her arms were and he released and backed away like he'd just been burned. "Eren I'm sorry I didn't mean to hurt you-"

"Save it. I have to finish dinner." She started to walk away from him, heading back to the kitchen.

Levi reached forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her advance, but not forcefully. "Please, answer the question, be as mad as you want but tell me, where did you hear that name?"

Eren glared over her shoulder and shook Levi's hand off, "What do you mean where did I hear that name? It's your last name isn't it? Whatever has gotten into you needs to get out, and soon."

Levi knit his brows together and stared at her in confusion. "What? What are you talking about. My last name is Devaux."

At this, Eren stopped and turned, "Then why the hell does your package say 'Corporal Levi'?"

"Wait, you answered the door? Eren I told you…" he sighed and shook his head, 'I've already scared her enough, this lecture can wait…'

"What package? I never ordered anything." Levi's eyes narrowed further, confusion evident on his face. "Besides, if it said 'Corporal Levi,' wouldn't that make Levi my last name?"

Realization dawned on Eren, she paled.

"Then whose package is on your bed right now?"

They both hurried to his bedroom, the pot of boiling pasta sauce left forgotten alongside the now, overcooked noodles.

Levi was hesitant with opening the package; he spent a few moment inspecting it, noticing that it was indeed addressed to 'Corporal Levi,' but there was no sender. "Did you even look at this before you accepted it?" Levi shot coldly, "It doesn't even have a sender Eren. You shouldn't have answered to the door to begin with. What if it was one of those goons? You knew I would be getting home late today, why would you risk something like that?"

"I..." Eren had to turn away from his heated gaze, feeling embarrassed and ashamed with stupid and brash her decision was, "Look, I'm sorry I answered the door and 'was seen' by someone other you. I made a mistake. Sorry. But it's done, and nothing happened anyway, so why are so stuck on it. You're being really weird… Levi?"

While Eren spoke, Levi had opened the package, his eyes widened, dread and concern apparent on his features, he was visibly trembling, whether from fear or anger, Eren was unable to tell.

"What's wrong? What is it?" She stepped closer to Levi, and he flinched away, quickly closing the box and rushing past her and out of the bedroom. She heard a door opening and soon after the sickening noise of viscous liquid hitting the water in a toilet bowl. Levi was throwing up. Whatever was in that box had disturbed him to the point of being sick. Eren quickly followed him to the bathroom, the door was slightly cracked.

"Levi? Are you okay?" she called softly through the crack. Her only response was the sound of him emptying the remaining contents of his late lunch into the porcelain bowl, and the strong, acrid stench of stomach acid infiltrating her nose.

She took a deep breath and walked into the bathroom, ignoring the closed box in favor of grabbing the white hand towel it sat next to, she soaked the towel in cold tap water and wrung it out, letting it stay damp before she knelt by Levi's side and wiped away the cold sweat that had formed on his forehead, and the back of his neck. Once he'd finished emptying his stomach, Eren flushed the toilet and helped him towards the sink to rinse his mouth before guiding him to the living room to lie down on the sofa. She returned to the bathroom to re-dampen the hand towel with cold water, to soothe Levi's feverish head.

The box was still there. Waiting.

The temptation was too great for Eren to handle.

She hurried back to Levi and placed the dampen cloth across his forehead and left his side again, saying that she was going to get him some water, but she took the long way around, by-passing the kitchen and heading straight for the bathroom.

She took a deep breath and lifted the lid of the box.

She slapped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Inside, was an eyeball. Iris dark green and clouded, the nerves lay severed in a red, messy heap on the paper it lie in. The blood vessels, angered and red, visible around the orb. The putrid stench that came from Levi's mess was nothing compared to the foul assault of formaldehyde on Eren's nose. The stench in bathroom, combined with the stress of the seeing the gouged organ caused Eren to feel faint, a small trail of blood seeped from her nose as she fell, unconscious to the ground, the door helping to catch her falling body, providing a little guidance so she didn't hit her head against the tiled flooring of the bathroom.

**A/N**

**I know canonically, Eren and Levi share a 10 cm difference, which is roughly four inches, but since Eren is female, and women on average tend to be shorter than men, I knocked an inch off of her height. So instead of standing at 5'7" she's at 5'6". **


	13. I know I'm a Wolf - Part 1

**Warnings: mentions of attempted rape**

**Chapter Eleven– I Know I'm a Wolf – Part 1**

Levi lie prone on the sofa, letting the rapid rise and fall of his chest pull his thoughts away from the gruesome package that lay in wait for him on the bathroom counter. He tried to focus more on calming his breathing and less on the rancid taste of vomit lingering in his mouth. The cool towel on his forehead did wonders for the gradually forming headache, slowing it enough for the pain pills to kick in before it hit him with its full force. Now all he needed were the pills and the water Eren had hurried off to get, though she seemed to be taking her sweet ass time.

'Did she forget where the medicine cabinet is…what is taking you so damn long Eren?' With an annoyed grunt, Levi lifted his unwilling and nauseous body up into a sitting position. Not wanting to worsen the dizziness by standing too quickly, he paused to let his body orient itself before pushing off the sofa and stumbling to the kitchen to grab a glass of tepid tap water.

Feeling a little more human and less of an unsteady lump of flesh, Levi made his way down the hallway towards his bathroom, hoping for some relief for the faint throbbing starting at the back of his head.

A faint throbbing that only increased in intensity as his pulse quickened. His eyes widened in shock, and he all but forgot about the radiating pain.

"…."

Eren's body was on the floor, lying impossibly centered between wood flooring of the hallway and the cold tiles of the bathroom floor.

"…Eren!?"

He rushed forward, his only concern for her fallen, dangerously pale form, and the possible injuries to the body of the young woman he'd been so desperate to protect. Kneeling at her unconscious side, Levi quickly checked her breathing before he thoroughly inspected her head and the surrounding area. He let go of the breath he'd been holding when he realized she was breathing normally and hadn't appeared to hit her head too hard on anything, but he was still incredibly concerned by the thin trail of blood that trickled from her nose, stopping right above the bow of her lip.

He stood too quickly and felt his own dizziness return full force; clutching his head and taking a deep breath, Levi tried to ignore it and force the feeling of vertigo to pass. He splashed his face with cold sink water and sighed, before wetting a hand towel. He wrung out the excess liquid, then returned to Eren's comatose form. With a light, worried touch, he cleaned away the blood as gently as he could before wiping down the whole of Eren's face, hoping that the cold sensation would help draw her back to consciousness.

He wouldn't know for certain the state of her injury until she woke up, and didn't want to risk acerbating the damage by moving her too suddenly. After sitting on the bathroom floor for another ten minutes, Levi watched as movement began behind Eren's lids. He ran the back of his fingers lightly over her cheek, hoping the sensation would help to further rouse her. When her eyes finally opened, he quickly checked their color and was relieved to find no apparent damage. Moments after they opened, they fluttered shut and Levi called once more, "Eren…"

His only response was a slight shift in her position and the wiggling of her fingers. Taking these as good signs, he deemed it was safe enough to move her, and gently began to lift her still body, taking extra care to cradle her head while he made his way to his bedroom.

Once she had been laid down and appeared to be positioned comfortably on the bed, Levi returned to the bathroom to take the pain medicine and finally rid his mouth of the acrid sourness assaulting his taste buds. Moments later, he returned to Eren's side to find her eyes fluttering, and much to his relief, her coloring had improved.

Levi stood at the bedside, trying not to hover over her, but failing miserably at giving Eren space. "Eren… how are you feeling?"

"Nngh…"

"Are you alright?" He moved closer, resting on the edge of the bed and leaned over her prone form. He raised his hand with two fingers in the air, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"…" Her eyes blinked slowly, before narrowing and focusing on the hand suspended above her face. She grunted and pushed it away, moving her body until she settled into a more comfortable position before closing her eyes again.

"Eren…?" Levi's voice was low, and laced with concern, his features contorted into a serious scowl, not meant to be scary, but unpleasant in its own right. Eren's eyes opened once more, focusing on his face and widening slightly at his confused grimace as he spoke, "Do you know who I am?"

If she hadn't been feeling like she'd been smacked in the head by a bat, she would have laughed, but all Eren could bring herself to do was scowl and push his hand away, she moved a bit to readjust her aching head and neck and let her eyes drift shut again in hopes of sleeping the headache off, but she heard her name called once more.

Annoyed by his persistence, and both alarmed and confused by his question, Eren blinked her eyes open and stared at him, 'Of course I know who you are...dummy.'

She rolled her eyes and finally spoke, though she was surprised by the weakness of her own voice, "Yes, you're keeping me from sleeping," she forced a small smile on her lips, despite the overwhelming want to cry from the intensity of her headache, "I'm fine Levi," she paused when she saw his eyes fill with moisture, the glistening liquid threatening to fall; Eren reached up, slowly, to caress his face, hoping this simple gesture was assurance enough that she was okay, "you should get some rest."

His name on her lips had never sounded so sweet; he felt relief wash over him as her fingers tickled across his cheek. The touch was light, too soft to be intentional; he'd also noticed her voice was much softer, obviously weak. Levi placed his hand over Eren's and pulled it towards his mouth, pressing his lips lightly against her palm before kissing each finger, showing his relief and thankfulness for her apparent lack of serious injury.

He chuckled lightly at her words and intertwined their fingers, then leaned forward to place a kiss on the bridge of her nose. Levi smiled at the faint coloring dusting her cheeks; glad to see a healthier color return to those cheeks after seeing them so devoid of life less than half an hour before.

"You need it more than I do," he started, and gave one last kiss to their intertwined fingers before pulling his hand away as he stood next to the bed, "but I'll indulge you just this once, brat."

Eren smiled once more before letting her eyes close, as she fell almost immediately into a deep sleep.

Levi soon joined her, lying down by her side and pulling her close, a silent reassurance that she wasn't alone, and finally, neither was he.

All thoughts of the threat, looming far too close to their comfortable home were momentarily forgotten, as they slept in each other's embrace.

* * *

><p><em>The streets of the town glowed red, the gutters overrun with the crimson liquid that poured from the dark clouds above. A strong rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, shattering the steady harmony of drops as they hit the black pavement below. The lone figure ran, pausing to hide behind garbage cans and in small niches scattered throughout the alleyways; his breaths came in ragged huffs, escaping in deep, unsteady gasps, the sound of his steps masked by the scarlet shower.<em>

_His world had been so devoid of color, save for the crimson blood he stained his hands with. The color red was always constant reminder that he'd never be able to escape his past, and his future would always hold the prospect of returning to that dark, monochrome world; the world where the only color that mattered was red. The only color a beast ever needed to be familiar with. The blood of his enemies, those fallen at his hands, the few who'd been unlucky enough to cross his path at the wrong time._

_Until she came._

_Her welcoming smile, and bright eyes; a wild Caribbean blue, with the power to dispel the shadows lurking in his heart and mind; she made him forget. Forget about the evils in the world. His past. His dark, colorless world. Her light shattered his darkness. _

_But now she was gone. He'd been running frantically, searching for her lost form. Desperately trying to reach her before it was too late._

_Too late for what?_

_Levi neared the end of the alleyway and stopped his anxious run, finding himself in front of a familiar complex and even more familiar street. His pulse quickened, a weak voice spoke, 'She's here.'_

_He slowly neared the complex, clothing clinging to his creeping form whilst he tried to ignore the chills and shivers overtaking his body. _

_He looked down and noticed the gun in his trembling hands. 'Hurry,' the feeble voice warned._

_Levi past the building and rounded the corner, finding himself in an alleyway he didn't want to recognize. The grim version of a familiar scene displayed before him._

_The blonde boy, bloodied and beaten, lying face down on the crimson soaked ground; the Asian girl thrown half-hazardly against the brick pavement, arms bent to unnatural angles while her black eyes gazed unseeingly at the dark sky, blood dripped from her mouth, left agape from her last attempt to call for help. _

_Levi quickened his pace, averting his eyes from the two lifeless teens, hoping he wasn't too late. He reached the end of the alleyway and turned the corner; he stood frozen, unable to breathe or fully process the grotesque scene before him. The only sounds were of her poorly muffled screams, her desperate pleas for help._

_Three blank faced men surrounded her protesting form, one holding her arms, another try to silence her cries, while the last sat between her legs, tearing away the fabric that separated him from his sick intent and horrific goal._

_Neither of the men noticed Levi's approach, but she did. Eren noticed him, she reached for him, stretching her hand towards him, begging for his hand to take hers. _

_With narrowed, bloodthirsty eyes, Levi sped towards the group gun in hand and aimed at the greedy pig between her legs._

Levi awoke with a start, sweat rolling down his brow and hitting the pillow, joining with the small wet spot formed by his perspiration. It'd been years since he'd had such a vivid nightmare. 'Why would I dream something like that?' He questioned the darkness in his mind, willing the images of a restrained and hapless Eren out of his head.

He sat up fully in the bed, pushing the covers off his body as he slid to the edge, intent on getting a glass of cool water to quench the burning dryness in his throat. It was then when he realized he was alone. The spot on the bed where she'd been was cold; it'd been empty for a while.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the early morning, he noticed the door to his bedroom was slightly ajar, a faint light visible beyond it. He rushed towards the light, towards his kitchen and let go a breath he'd been holding when he spotted Eren curled up in a dining chair, nursing what he could only assume to be a glass of water.

Before she could take notice of his presence, Levi locked her in a desperate embrace, circling his arms around her from the side. He buried his face in her mop of bed mussed hair, whispering between kissing to her forehead, "Thank God."

Eren was shocked by his sudden appearance and embrace; she tried to pull away, only to find herself held tighter, a hold that was becoming almost painful. She gave up her struggles, and reached a hand behind Levi's head, to pat along his buzzed neckline, splaying her fingers out in a rhythmic, calming motion.

"…Levi…?" Eren spoke against the silky fabric that clothed his shoulder.

She stiffened at the next words out of his mouth.

"We need to leave."

Levi pulled back, hands still resting firmly on her shoulders as he spoke again, attempting to clarify the confusion apparent both on Eren's face and in his jumbled, racing thoughts.

"It's not safe. You're not safe here anymore, they know you're here. We have to leave…go somewhere farther."

Eren scrunched her brows, "What do mean they? Who are they? You don't mean…" she stopped letting the words process as the answer hit her square in the face. Anger evident in her voice as she spoke, "What could they possibly still want? Is this some kind of game for them? How did they even know?"

Levi's grip tightened on her shoulders, "It's my fault. I wasn't careful enough. Someone must have followed me," he paused and shook his head, 'Damn it. Fuck.' "What do they want? They want to see me suffer, to grovel and beg on my knees like a fucking dog; to be weak, helpless, and obedient. They want me to hurt, so they're going after the only weakness I have."

"But why? I don't understand, what did you do to them that pissed the off enough to send you a goddamn severed eyeball?!" Eren stood from the chair and started pacing next to the dining table, running her hands over her face and through her unkempt bed head, "And if they're trying so desperately to get back at you, why am I even here? Why am I involved at all? What does any of this shit have to do with me? Why can't I go home? What did I ever do to deserve being locked up…what did my mom ever do to deserve to die…what…" her voice cracked, unable to continue as her vision blurred, fresh tears burning and dripping down her face.

Levi remained silent, choosing instead to bury his face in his hand and sigh heavily before getting himself a glass of water. He took two long swigs and set the glass down on the counter harder than he intended, frustration pouring out as he spoke, "Because it's you."

"What? What's 'me', you're not making any sense."

"Because you're my goddamn weakness Eren. It's you, you're my only weakness. They know that, so they're trying to get to me by hurting you."

Eren stopped her pacing and dropped her hands, staring at Levi as if he'd suddenly grown a foot taller. "But how…why would I be your weakness? We've known each other less than a year…that doesn't make any sense. No," she sighed, shaking her head, "let's not do this right now. It's late. I'm tired, you're tired. Let's just sleep and…and just talk about this in the morning." She stood and started towards Levi's room.

He let one more frustrated sigh pass his lips before downing the last of the water and following her towards his room. When he passed through the doorway, Eren was already curled up on her side, facing the doorway. He walked slowly towards his end of the bed and sat down, hands folded as his elbows rested against his knees. A few moments passed before his voice broke through the dark, silent air, "In the morning, there's something I want to show you."

A soft grunt that sounded something like an 'okay,' was his only response. Too tired to try and further the heavy conversation, Levi laid down and let sleep retake him, hoping that his mind would spare him from a continuation of the vivid nightmare that had only just begun.

* * *

><p>"So you wanted to show me something?" Eren questioned from the office chair, sitting across from Levi's form, his legs draped over the side of the bed, elbows resting on his knees and features contorted in deep thought.<p>

"Do you trust me?"

"I don't really have much of a choice." She was clearly still upset, or tired, perhaps both.

He peered up at Eren between his bed mussed fringe, and sighed, sitting up straight as he slowly began to unbutton his night shirt. He never lost contact with her large, and confused eyes as he finished his task.

"W-what are you doing, why are you taking off your clothes!" Eren broke his intense stare by hiding behind her hands, in an attempt to keep from gawking at the statuesque body on display before her. When he didn't speak, Eren peeked between her fingers and allowed her eyes to roam his bare torso. Her eyes scanned from the perfectly defined abdominal 'v' to each perfect pack of muscle, 'One, two…six!' she felt her cheeks heating up at the thought of all the nights she'd curled up against those clothed muscles, relishing in the warmth and comfort his body emitted, 'No wonder he's always so warm, he's got fucking muscles on his muscles…' her thoughts stopped when her eyes finally searched across his chest. Her eyes widened at the strange familiarity of the tattoo adorning Levi's chest, right above his heart.

She found herself kneeling between his spread legs, hesitantly tracing her fingers across the design as the memories from a brief period of her childhood flooded back in full force.

"You…" she began, hand resting over his heart, feeling the increase in the organ's beat, she stared up at Levi, whose eyes were downcast, averted in shame, "You're one of them." It wasn't a question.

Levi remained silent. Eren let her hand drop to her side as she stood, staring down at his dejected head, letting the new information, their current circumstance, and her memories mingle and process.

"That night, it was you wasn't it? The man in the alleyway…" A slight nod was her only confirmation.

If this had been six months ago, Eren would have kicked as hard she could and made a break for the nearest exit. This was not a good idea, Armin would berate her, Mikasa would probably smack her on the head and join Armin in a verbal montage on wise decision making and what to do and not to do in risky situations. This was the textbook definition of a risky situation. Standing before a half-naked man, in his bedroom no less, a half-naked man who was a member of the most notorious gang on this side of the state, the same man who she'd found beaten nearly to death in her alleyway as a young girl, the one she'd nursed back to health using the skills she'd learned from the times she and her dad would play 'doctor' on his days off; the same man who'd kidnapped her and kept her detained from the world for the past three months of her life. Everything about this situation screamed to hurt him and get away. Escape.

But she didn't. Eren didn't move from her spot, she felt rooted, almost obligated to remain, to listen to his side of the story; his reasons for the chaos that has become so commonplace in their lives.

There was something about the way this dangerous, deadly man allowed himself to be so fragile in her hands. He'd laid himself out bare before her, waiting for her, for Eren to make the decision. His words from earlier echoed back in her mind, 'Do you trust me?' …'I don't know…do I?' The obvious answer would be no. Of course not, he's been lying to you all this time. He's one of them. One of the bastards that attacked you, that hurt you, that killed your mother. Hell to the fuck no you don't trust him…shouldn't trust him. But…she…did? Didn't she? She's remained at his side for this long and for the most part, had been safe. Right?

The sound of thunder drew Eren's attention back to her current situation, that's when she noticed the lack of morning light which had previously streamed through the thin spaces between the closed blinds. 'Rain…this late in May?' Her gaze returned to Levi's dejected form, his storm cloud colored eyes were staring up at her, searching her bright eyes with a silent plea.

Her thoughts were jumbled, so she decided to act on instinct, ignoring the mess of accusations and possibilities racing through her mind. All she saw before her was a broken man who needed reassurance, bad people are just that right…people, and people need to feel human, to feel community, that they aren't alone. Human's are social creatures, no matter how much they try to deny it, everyone wants to belong, to feel welcomed, to be wanted. Even the most notorious pariahs of society find community in each other's own lack of acceptance by society.

No one wants to be a monster. People aren't born monsters, we create them…become them.

Her hand rose up and traced gently along his cheekbone, then rested firmly against his cheek. With a small smile on her lips, Eren whispered, "It's okay," and placed a soft kiss to the top of Levi's head. A simple, innocent, and _human_ gesture.

That was all it took, all that he needed.

Eren found herself wrapped in his tight embrace, pulled firmly against his trembling form. His head buried against her chest, face hidden in the fabric of the night shirt she'd borrowed from him, his fist balled up firmly in the extra fabric on her back and waist.

The hold was awkward, but Eren couldn't bring herself to break away. Instead, she tried her best to ignore the warmth returning to her cheeks, and focused on calming the terrifyingly gentle man in her arms. She wrapped her free arm around his head and leaned into the hold, running her fingers through his hair, creating a soothing rhythm that betrayed the rapid pounding of her heart against her ribcage.

When his grip began to grow slack, Eren bit her lip and leaned back, having finally reached a compromise with herself. "I…I don't know if I trust you. At least not yet. Tell me everything that lead up to this…I want to know how…how all of this happened." She mentally cursed at her stutter, but no matter how docile he was in her presence, the fact remained that Eren was still afraid of this man.

Levi's hands dropped down to her hips, his grip loose, but firm enough to keep her in place. "Alright. Fair enough." He paused lowered his head once more, before meeting Eren's awaiting gaze. "But first I…" he stopped again, eyes falling, then searching her face before finally settling on her lips, "before I start, can I do one last thing?"

Eren briefly glanced to the side and nodded, awaiting his next action.

Levi stood, and positioned Eren's face just right before leaning up to place a light kiss to her lips, it ended just as quickly as it began. He backed away and reached for her hand, then started towards the living room to sit and start this conversation…well, more of an explanation, he was sure he'd be the only one talking.

He paused when they reached the entrance of their home and typed out a quick message, letting his partner know he wasn't coming in today, then continued on to their living space.

* * *

><p>"Before I begin, I just want you to know that everything I've done…that I do…has been for you. Just keep that in mind."<p>

Eren nodded and relaxed against the sofa, waiting for Levi to explain…everything.

"I'm going to start with how I ended up in that alleyway, the night you found me…"


	14. I Know I'm a Wolf - Part 2

**A/N**

**Alright, so after a lot of debating and things being thrown at me (_ don't ask) I decided to go ahead and try to re-write all the lost content. After mulling over it I thought that doing an explanation chapter would be rather redundant, but considering it's been over a year since the last update…it's more or less a requirement at this point, anyway, I tried to add some new perspectives so you all aren't bored to death.**

**I've edited the entire story a bit to make it more cohesive and easier to follow, you don't need to re-read anything to have this chapter make sense. Thank you so much for all the support and the patience, you are all so incredibly kind.**

**Anyway, it's good to be back, thanks for waiting, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!**

**Warning: Attempted suicide. ** **If you find any trigger that I haven't put in the tags that I need to add then please let me know. **

**Guest Reviewer 1: You're right, I wasn't editing the story anymore because I had to re-write it all. :/**

**Ama Zon: While I appreciate the enthusiasm, feel free to stop reading my stories because I don't cater to rude people like you. Writers have lives and just incase you weren't aware, we write fics out of passion and interest and love for the subject, it's not a job, and you are not a boss that can just swoop in and demand an update. Read or don't read I don't really care, but if you leave another rude comment like that you will be reported. **

**Guest Reviewer 2: The long awaited update has arrived! Hopefully you're still interested and you enjoy the lastest installment. **

**Guest Reviewer 3: It's here it's here!**

**Sw: Thank you, thank you, thank you so very much. Please enjoy!**

**Chapter Twelve – I Know I'm a Wolf – Part 2**

_"Before I begin, I just want you to know that everything I've done…that I do…has been for you. Just keep that in mind."_

_Eren nodded and relaxed against the sofa, waiting for Levi to explain…everything._

_"I'm going to start with how I ended up in that alleyway, the night you found me…"_

Levi sighed and took a deep breath before looking towards the rest of his house, blinking slowly before starting, "I'd been part of the legion for around ten years at that point, I ended up in a bad situation as a child… and just had to get out, and with nowhere else to go, I…" he paused once again, sighing, "I ended up on the streets for a while. One night I wandered into their hideout, and it's history from there."

He took a short breath before continuing on, "Now don't get me wrong, I knew what I was doing wasn't good by any stretch of the word, but that's what kept me alive, and believe it or not, saved my sanity. A couple years in, someone new took over and from there the bad things got worse, and by the time I got to my twenties I just couldn't handle it anymore," he paused again, looking down at his fisted hands, "so I decided to leave and never look back. I had a couple friends, well, they were more than that, probably the closest I had to a real family at the time, who tried leaving before I did…I should have gone with them at the time, maybe things would have worked out…" he closed his eyes, as if he'd seen something he wished he hadn't and sighed again as he slowly opened them.

"Somehow, someone got wind of what they'd planned on doing and they were gone in the blink of an eye. A short while after that I turned in my resignation. Needless to say they weren't happy about that…then flash-forward to your alleyway and that's how I ended up so trashed."

He looked up and caught Eren's eyes for a brief moment, watching the confusion swirling in her expression. He hoped she didn't ask for a more in-depth explanation…he'd glazed over several of the horrible things he'd done, some more willingly than others, that led to his decision, and what exactly his _resignation_ had been. She made no indication of wanting to speak, so he took that as his sign to go on.

With a relieved sigh he continued, "After you rescued me, I ended up at a shelter for a short while, worked some odd jobs and I just happened to get recommended for a scholarship to the Police Academy. They paid for pretty much everything, and as per our agreement, after a few months at the academy I started working for the Shiganshina police department…" he paused again and looked to the side, avoiding Eren's steady gaze, "and after a year I was partnered with Erwin…now we're here."

She let the information process, 'well at least he's actually a cop and that's not lie too,' she sighed and stared straight at him, "So why and when exactly did you decide to start stalking me?"

A little shaken by her question he made a noise of protest, the word itself, _stalking_, left such a foul taste on his tongue, but with the firm look Eren fixed him with, an eyebrow raised and arms crossed in disbelief, he answered, "That's not what I intended to do…"

"So you mean to tell me that all those times you just happened to be there, albeit, some more convenient than others, were just coincidences? Levi, I may be slow to recognize some things, but I am no idiot. There is no way you always just happen to be there when I needed you…" she bit her lip and added in, "…don't get me wrong, I am grateful, you've saved my life and my friends and for that I…I don't think I could ever repay you for, but please, don't lie to me…tell me, honestly, were you stalking me?"

Levi couldn't look her in the eyes, feeling too ashamed of himself to even think of meeting her questioning gaze. After a momentary stretch of silence, he lowly answered, "I did watch you sometimes, and occasionally I followed you and your friends on your outings…" he risked looking up only to see her eyes widen then narrow in anger, "…but I only did it to make sure you were okay, and that you didn't need anything. Eren I swear it was just to keep you safe, I've never tried to…take advantage of situation."

Eren felt the previous alarm and annoyance she'd tried to bury surge forward, "What do you mean never tried to take advantage? How can you say that after I've been warming your bed for months now!?" her voice cracked as a few hot, angry tears fell from her eyes, "How the hell is following someone around and trying to stay hidden not stalking?" she stopped and wrapped her arms around her now shivering form, whispering just loud enough for him to hear, "All those days and nights…I felt like I was being watched and people would just laugh at me…and dismiss me…all this time…it's been you?"

After her outburst, he lowered his head again to hide the color flooding his cheeks from how ashamed he felt, "I just thought, that maybe if I kept a close eye on you, that maybe someday I might be useful to you…I thought that maybe I would get the chance to repay you for saving my life…"

His voice got so low it became almost inaudible, "Eren, you saved my life…a complete stranger…I was…I am just street trash but you still went out of your way, risked your own safety to help me…"

Eren shook her head in disbelief and stood from the sofa, her voice heavy with emotion, but weak as she spoke, "So I saved your life…and lost mine?" she closed her eyes, as a steady stream tears cascaded down her cheeks, "Is that what you're telling me?" she began to walk towards Levi, standing directly in front of him, she leaned down slightly to life his head up between her hands and looked directly in his eyes as she spoke her next words, "I couldn't finish high school, my friends were hurt, and left alone, my home taken from me, and my mother is dead… all because…because of you? Because I helped you…?" She watched him nod, very slowly and dropped her hands to her sides as a few more tears fell from her reddened eyes. She shook her head and began to walk away from living space, arms firmly wrapped around her body.

"E-Eren…" he called weakly. He stood and followed after her, reaching out to turn her around so he could at least see her expression, see if there was anything he could possibly to do help alleviate the ache he was sure she was feeling, because he felt it deep in the pit of his stomach too.

"No, don't touch me, I just… I need to be alone right now." She gently pushed him away and turned to face away from him, lingering in the space between the living room and the hallway.

"Eren please…" his voice was so pained, and desperate, "I never meant to hurt you, please you have to understand that…I just wanted to be useful to you…"

She turned on her heels and in a raised voice, shouted, "Well you've done a fine job at that huh? I'm being hunted by a group of psychotic murderers, my mother is dead, and I'll probably never see my friends again-" her voice cracked as a sob broke through. Levi surged forward to try and comfort her but she pushed him away again and ran towards the guest bedroom. She rushed in and slammed the door loudly behind her before falling to the foot of the bed, her tears soaking into the sheets.

Levi stood, stone cold in the living room, his hand still extended after her retreating form, he didn't move until he heard the loud slam of the door followed by muffled noise of sobs filling the otherwise quiet house. He saw nothing but red, and let out a frustrated groan before running his hands roughly through his hair. Arms thrashing wildly, he pushed off what little decorations he had in his quaint living space and began making his way to his bedroom, throwing and thrashing whatever lay in wait, all the while letting his frustrated wails echo alongside Eren's broken cries.

'What have I done? Damnit!' he punched the wall, 'what if I've lost her…' he kicked the desk chair and punched the wall again, this time it gave a little under his fist, his skin was burning but he continued, 'She would have been better off if Felix had killed me, I'm so useless,' he finally broke skin, having made a fist sized hole in the wall of his bedroom as he kicked the chair once more, sending it rolling across the floor and crashing into his nightstand. He fell against the wall, sliding down to his knees as a frustrated wail escaped his lips.

From the guest bedroom, Eren could hear the loud crashes and incoherent screams coming from down the hallway, she was surprised and scared to say the least, so much so that soon her own crying quieted to a few choked sniffles and eventually to hiccups.

She slowly rose from kneeling on the cold wood flooring for what felt like hours, and crept towards the door, placing her ear near the crack to better hear the source of the noise. When an almost inhuman wail echoed down the hall, followed by what sounded like a two pieces of furniture colliding, Eren backed away from the door and nearly tripped and fell backwards.

She steadied herself on the bed as the thoughts rushed in, 'H-he's crazy, I…oh my God I need to get away from him...' she shut her eyes and tried to will the voice inside her head away and silence the others that she knew would soon follow.

_You're right. He is crazy. He's locked you away, I bet he's even willing to kill someone else you love if you don't play your cards right._

'No, you're wrong he wouldn't do that…he's too obsessed with me. He only wanted to help me…that's what he said anyway.'

_He's already taken your mother._

'N-No, that was someone else…h-he was there to comfort me, he couldn't have…wouldn't have planned that. Right?'

_Who's next…Mikasa…Armin? Are you really going to wait and find out? _

Eren clutched her head and clamped her mouth shut to keep from screaming. 'G-GET OUT OF MY HEAD.' The voices had been quiet for a while; she thought they were finally gone, that she was finally getting better. Sure, she still had nightmares, but that was to be expected, things were finally looking up, she and Levi were finally… 'what…what were we finally…becoming…?' She shook her head and abruptly stood, feeling dizziness take over for a moment before she oriented herself again.

She exited the space that was making her head throb and made it down the hall to the bathroom to rinse her face and try to calm down. After cleaning off a bit, she padded quietly to Levi's bedroom, waiting outside the door to listen for any signs that his fit was still occurring, hearing nothing, she lightly rapped on the door. No response.

She knocked a bit harder this time and still nothing. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and slowly opened the door; she felt a sharp pain as her eyes hurried to focus in the dimly lit room. After hearing no protests, she quietly crept in and stopped before she'd even gotten past the threshold.

The curtains had been pulled down and thrown to the ground. The sheets were strewn about the room, pillows thrown half-hazardly on the floor while another was shredded and its feathers covered the messy bedding in a layer like fluffy snow, peppered with brown and gray specks from the various feathers used. Levi's desk chair was toppled over next to the night stand where the face of the alarm clock was shattered on the floor along with the few other trinkets he'd had lying on top of the dresser.

As she hesitantly made her way further into the chaos that littered the once pristine bedroom, she softly called out, "L-Levi?" she turned, now that her eyes had adjusted to better survey the area, there was a small hole punched into the wall with dark stains around and dripping down it, she walked towards the wall and touched the stains, 'sticky…is this blood?' she quickly backed away and made her way around to the other side of the room. Having checked around the room, and even under the bed she worried her brows in confusion, 'where the hell is he…?'

She walked over to the opened door and gulped, closing her eyes for a moment before quickly swinging the door shut. She opened her eyes and in the corner, directly behind the door was a dark figure, slumped forward in defeat.

"L-Levi?!" Eren rushed towards him and pulled the man forward with such force that she lost her footing and tumbled backwards with him. His unconscious form landed against hers, face pressed against her abdomen as she panicked and began checking his vitals. She lifted his face and felt the slickness of sweat, his skin was cold and clammy, and his pulse was so weak. "Levi!" she cried and tried to pull him away from the corner.

She turned and kneeled, and tried to get his limp form to fall against her own so she could drag him to the bed. After several failed attempts, she managed to rather sloppily drag him to the bed and all but threw his comatose body atop the messy furniture. Eren took a deep breath to stop her racing thoughts and tried to think of what to do, there was clearly something wrong but she couldn't figure out what. She did a quick search of his body to find any wounds but found only his badly bashed knuckle, likely the one used to put the hole in the wall. The only other thing she could think of that would so this was drugging or poisoning, her panicked wide eyes grew even wider as realized what happened.

She leaned down and pressed her ear against his chest, and listened to the awkward palpitations of his heart, 'damnit you stupid…stupid asshole, what the hell were you thinking?' she turned him on his side and took a deep breath before plunging her fingers down his throat, in hopes to induce vomiting, at first nothing happened, and she hesitated to push any deeper lest she injure him further, but seconds after the initial thrust she felt his throat convulsing around her fingers and soon his body lurched. As soon as she felt the initial lurch she removed her hand and backed away as his eyes shot open and he began emptying the contents of his stomach on his bedroom floor.

The acrid stench burned her nose and eyes, but a strange sense of anger coupled with relief overtook her feeling of disgust at the situation.

After coughing and spurting a few more times, Levi lowered his head, then turned to lean back against his bed, the movement causing the down feathers to float up and around him, falling into the mess beside him and floating atop his sweat drenched form. His breathing was labored, skin still slick with sweat, but he was conscious and breathing somewhat normally again. He looked over at the girl with a mix of anger and relief contorting her features and let his eyes slip close.

Eren took that as her cue to leave the room; she made it to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water, then swung by the bathroom for a damp towel. She walked around to the other side of the room to access Levi from the side of the bed that wasn't blocked off by vomit and handed him the bottle and all but threw the cool towel at his face. Fat, angry tears feel from her eyes as she watched the man struggle to sit up against the headboard. He drank the water and wiped his face down, some color having returned to his previously grey toned skin. He looked over to Eren, still too weak to speak to her, though the sadness in his eyes seemed to spout an untold number of apologies. 'I'm so sorry…please forgive me.' He silently watched as she left the room, dull eyes hoping to see her once more before he lost consciousness again.

Eren quickly made her way to the bathroom and began to draw a bath. They both needed one, but only one of them was actually in the proper state for taking one. She sighed and sat on the toilet while she let the water fill the basin, adding a little soap every so often so it was well mixed in the warm water. Once it was to an acceptable level, she made her way back to where Levi was supposed to be and was surprised to find that he'd actually made it out of bed and towards the bedroom door.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked in an exasperated tone, but still pulled his arm around her shoulder to help balance the rest of his journey down the hall. Her only response was a low grunt and a few mumbled, incoherent words. She helped him rest on the toilet seat and in the flattering florescent bathroom lighting she could see just how bad he really looked. His eyes were swollen and red, likely from crying, and the subtle dark circles he usually has were much larger and purple in color, his skin looked so pale and thin that the veins could be seen and his hair was disheveled and matted against his scalp.

With a low sigh, she slowly began to undress him; first pulling his shirt off, then letting him lean against her while he made slow work of his pants, then underwear. Trying her best to avoid looking at his naked figure, she helped him to the warm, welcoming waters and this time, handed him a wash cloth. All that escaped him was a contented sigh, as he leaned back to relax in the water. Eren wanted to leave the room to give him some privacy, but he still seemed to be somewhat impaired by whatever drug managed to seep into his system, so she settled for sitting on the toilet and twiddling her thumbs, trying to focus on anything but his naked body, while he bathed.

After a few minutes, she heard some faint splashing and looked over to see that Levi was resting against the side of the tub, looking directly at her with a doped expression on his face. Eyes slightly glazed, and drooping, skin tinged pink with his lips drawn in a content line. He reached out towards Eren, who almost immediately took the offered hand, after a short struggle, he intertwined their fingers and shifted again in the water, "-rry," Eren leaned forward and tilted her head to the side, "huh?"

"M' Sorry," he tried again, his voice sounded hoarse, low and raspy, like he hadn't spoken in weeks. Eren's lower lip trembled as she tried to hold back her tears, a few escaped, cascading down her cheek before she spoke, "You better be, asshole." She sniffled and wiped away the last of her tears before leaning forward and grabbing the shampoo with her unoccupied hand. "Alright, lean back," Levi fixed her with a confused look for a moment before slowly connecting the dots and complying with her command. She kneeled by the tub and wet her hands, then began to lather to shampoo, she slowly combed through his strands with her soapy fingers, watching the way his body relaxed with her touch, after a nice rinse, she massaged the conditioner a bit longer than necessary and finished off with another liberal rinse.

Satisfied with her job, she rose and grabbed a towel, waiting for Levi to decide he was finished so she could help him up and out. He seemed a bit steadier now that he he'd flushed his system with some water, but the dull look in his eyes was still alarming. Fortunately, or not, for Eren, he was able to lift himself from the tub and dry without much assistance, she supported him down the hall to the guest bedroom and left him to finish drying on the bed whilst she gathered something clean and comfortable for him to wear. She grimaced at the mess in the bedroom and had to search quickly to avoid gagging.

When she returned to the room, Levi was sitting hunched over with his elbows resting against his knees and legs spread wide, the towel having been carelessly tossed to the side. Eren nearly squeaked at the sight and all but threw the clean clothes at his face. "A-at least try to act ashamed!" she exclaimed and darted out of the room and back to bathroom to take her own bath and try to cool down.

She rinsed the tub with the shower head and let it drain while she stripped, then hopped into the basin to shower. She tried to focus on scrubbing down her own body instead of thinking back to the impossibly toned body of the naked man down the hall. Once she was satisfied with her own hygiene, dressed in fresh clothes and had downed plenty of water, she finally made her way back to the guestroom, hoping that by now he'd have been able to dress himself. Just in case, she knocked lightly on the door and entered when she heard a muffled, "Come in."

Eren entered with a slight hesitation, but that faded as soon as she saw a clothed, and much healthier looking Levi in place of the comatose pallid man she'd seen nearly three hours prior. She paused at the door, letting the relief wash over her briefly before feeling her legs give out and falling to the floor.

"Eren?" Levi moved a bit too quickly and had to stop himself, feeling the nausea and fatigue coming back full force.

"I'm fine, sorry, I just…I'm so glad, and so…" she yawned widely, and a few tears fell from the corners of her eyes as she stood, turned off the light, and made her way to the bed, "…so tired," she said with a small smile.

"Mm," was her only response when she leaned forward and ran her hands through his freshly cleaned hair. Leaving the conditioner in too long made it a bit fluffy, but even softer than usual. Levi settled back under the covers, facing Eren as she stroked the stray hairs away, whispering softly, "You should see yourself, acting like a dog when I stroke your hair," she let a short chuckle escape when he leaned further into the touch.

"M' not a dog," he whispered, eye's closing as he moved closer to her heat.

"Oh?" Eren asked playfully, maneuvering so he could make himself comfortable, "What are you then?" He lazily draped one arm over her waist and moved to lie against her chest.

Having settled comfortably under the covers, enveloped in each other's heat, they both began to drift in and out of consciousness when he answered, "a wolf." Whether or not Eren heard the reply he was unsure, but he gripped her tighter before falling into a deep, much needed sleep.

* * *

><p>"Gugh," a quiet groan escaped Eren's lips as she stretched her heavy limbs, trying to chase away the last holds that sleep had on her. She moved slowly at first, so as not to disturb Levi, but when she realized she was alone in the bed, she sped up her pace and made her way to the bathroom to get her day started. After finishing up in the bathroom, she wandered down the hall towards Levi's bedroom and paused at the doorway, trying not to smile at the sight and sounds of the scene before her.<p>

Levi wore a white cloth covering his nose and mouth, a pair of blue cleaning gloves, and had on a pair of black boots as he scrounged around the mess in his room. He crouched down and fumbled with the corner of the rug before carefully rolling it up to contain the majority of the foul-smelling mess.

She watched with a hint of mirth in her eyes as the scene played out.

"Fucking…."a few mumbled words followed that she couldn't pick up, "…what asshole thought it was a good idea to stuff a bird in a pillow, this shit is lethal," the angry grunts continued as she watched Levi make his way around the room sweeping up what remained of the down feathers scattered across his once pristine bedroom.

Leaning with her arms crossed against the threshold, she spoke with a hint of a chuckle in her voice, "You really should be resting you know." She couldn't help but smile when Levi fixed her with a sharp glare. 'Well he seems normal…I think…at least the scowl is back.'

He crouched down to put another pan full of feathers into the trash bag, "How do you expect me to rest when this filth is just rotting here?" he questioned rather sharply.

'Or maybe he's just in a bad mood…' Eren shook her head and smiled, thinking how cute he was even cross, 'wait…cute, he's a grown man, he can't be cute…right?'

"You should rest and let me clean it up, that was my plan to begin with, I just had a late start." She replied in a matter of fact tone, still standing in the doorway while Levi continued to sweep at the mess on the floor.

Without looking up he snapped back, "And what makes you think I'd be okay with you cleaning up after me? I'm a grown man Eren, while I appreciate the thought, I'd rather not sit around while the woman I love is cleaning up after my tantrum." He continued his cleaning as though he hadn't just, not so subtly confessed...

Eren stared at him wide eyed and fully awake now, "W-what…?" she felt her cheeks warming and would have lost her footing if she hadn't already been leaning against the wall for support. 'Well it's not like I didn't know but…wow.'

Silenced filled the room, save for the sound of plastic moving against itself as Levi filled the bag with more feathers. He ran over the words he'd just said and then paused, realizing that some of what he thought he'd _thought,_ was actually said.

"I-yea, well if you hadn't figured it out by now…" What could be seen of his cheeks turned a light pink and he turned away from her, adding, "Surprise…I guess," while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"U-um wow, I wasn't expecting my first confession to be quite like this…"

Levi paused his furious cleaning to stare at her, "And what does 'quite like this mean'" he raised his brow, 'from an ex-thug, or a psychotic stalker who drugged and kidnapped you, or better yet, how about an officer who overdosed on pain medication…' his self-loathing thoughts continued to spiral into deeper and darker pits the longer the silence went on.

"Well..." she said walking over to the pile of feathers gathered in a corner, "For one, I didn't expect it to be so fluffy." She punctuated her words by gathering a few feathers and letting them float back down to the pile.

He looked up and stared at her, mouth slightly agape below the mask and eyes a fraction wider, "Did you really just…say that…" he gave her a blank stare, smiling when he saw how embarrassed she'd become. He stopped her before she could open her mouth to retort, "No, nope," he stopped his work and stood to walk towards her, removing his gloves and setting them on his dresser, then loosening the mask on his face to let it rest around his neck, "now I really need to ask you to leave," he started again, slowly lessening the distance between himself and the girl leaning against near the door for support, "because once I'm done cleaning up this mess," he smirked and whispered, "I'm going to kiss you so hard you'll forget how to stand."

Eren barely heard the last few words as she stumbled backwards, "W-what? Wait, what did I do?" she questioned as he started to push her out of the room, "L-Levi, wait, explain, tell me wh-" he paused once she'd been moved outside the threshold, and cut off her sentence with a chaste peck on the lips, and not a second later the door was shut, keeping her out of his hair while he tried to salvage what he could of his bedroom. The sound of scraping could be heard moments later, presumably Levi moving something in front of the door to keep her out.

Eren stood, staring confusedly at the door. 'What was that…just…what.' After a few more seconds of processing she felt her cheeks heat again, this time with a mix of embarrassment and some annoyance, "L-Levi! Open this door right now, you need to be resting!" she knocked a few more times and was met with the muffled rustling of plastic and a few more colorful curses, "Levi!" Gritting her teeth in annoyance she huffed and kicked the door before walking away to see if there was anything else she could do besides sit around and wait for him to settle down.

* * *

><p>Several hours and two showers later, Levi was seated at the dining room table finishing up the last of the meal Eren had prepared for lunch; though it had turned into somewhat more of an early dinner for him. Eren sat in the living room, reading and trying her best to ignore him, though she was happy he was alright, she was furious about what he tried and almost succeeded in doing. Though the morning air seemed playful and clear, the tension now was stifling, so much that it made Levi nervous to even go near the young woman.<p>

He'd been part of one of the most infamous and brutal gangs in the history of this side of the state, he'd killed more people than he cared to even recall, he'd been starved, beaten, and close to death so many times yet the thought of the fragile, and comparably weak young soul occupying his sofa being angry made him terrified. He felt as though his whole world could shatter with one flick of her finger. Was this attraction healthy? No, of course not, and he'd be the first to admit it, but he could no longer see a future without her in it. And even the thought of leaving her to wander into the arms of another had his blood boiling.

After finishing up in the kitchen, he hesitantly made his way to the living area, weary of how much effort Eren put in to not acknowledge his presence. After staring blankly for a few minutes and getting no response, he sighed and decided to try and take his mind off of…well itself. That's what got him in this situation to begin with, and with the direction that things were taking, it was unlikely it'd be able to get him out of it. He shuffled through a few books before pulling out one he'd started a few months ago but never got around to finishing.

'I really need to figure out where to go. We can't stay here, they know we're here, but what can I do to convince Eren to go with me. If I force her, I know she'll hate me…but she'll be safe that's what most important…right?' He stared blankly at the page; not noticing that the one who currently plagued his thoughts was watching him with interest alight in her eyes.

'No, you're mad at him, so stop getting ideas Eren.' She berated herself, 'but he looks so sad…and he's already apologized so many times…but still…after that…he actually tried to kill himself. I-I just don't know if I can look at him the same way…he's always been so strong so why…Levi why would do something like that?' her eyes softened and her vision blurred as a few salty drops slid down her cheek. She shook her head and went back to reading, trying to ignore the thoughts festering in her mind.

Another hour and half passed before she paused once more to study Levi's furrowed features; she took a deep breath and set down her book. Without much thought, she walked over and stood in front of him, looking down at his, now sleeping face, and studying his face more closely. His breathing seemed even, though the worry lines caused by his grimace were alarming, compared to how relaxed he usually looked when sleeping. 'He must be more worried than I thought…' she sighed and slowly moved the book from his lap, and draped a throw cover over him to keep the chill off. When she reached down to gently brush some stray hairs out of his face, his eyes shot open and he roughly gripped her wrist. Eren yelped at the sudden, jerky movements and nearly fell forward, but caught herself on the arm of the chair he sat in.

"Levi?" she whispered, testing out the waters; her only response was the tightening of his hand around her wrist as she was forcefully pulled into his lap. "W-Wait a second what are you doing? Stop it!" she shouted, trying to push away from his vice-like grip. She'd shut her eyes tightly during the initial act, and kept them closed throughout her struggle, but when she opened them she stopped trying to fight back.

All that came out was a soft whisper, "L-Levi?"

His eyes were open in tiny slits, but they could barely be seen through the blur of tears flowing down his face. His mouth was closed, but she didn't need to hear his voice to know how broken it was, how broken he was. Seconds after she ceased her struggle, his grip weakened and his arms fell to the side, the cover she'd draped over him was pooled at their hips.

Though the voices in her head were satisfied to see his tear stained face, Eren ignored their warning and wrapped her arms strongly around him, holding his head close to her heart and catching his chocked sob in her warm embrace. His arms slowly rose to wrap around her, tightening when she began to softly stroke the back of his head and whispered soothing words to help calm him down.

"It's alright…you're okay. Everything's fine now, it was just a dream…okay?" As his hicks died down to soft snivels, he nodded his head and pressed himself closer to her. Eren had been so caught up with comforting him that she had yet realize just how intimate their position had become. Her legs straddled his hips, while she sat on his lower thighs, his face was buried in her chest, and his arms were wrapped possessively around her waist and back while hers kept his head in place. Feeling a light blush creep up, she instinctively began to pull back, but was only pulled more closely to him; she was practically sitting in his lap now. She stopped struggling momentarily before she tried once more to put a little more space between them.

"Please don't go…" Eren paused when she heard the muffled words, and shivered at the feeling of Levi's lips moving against her neck.

"Hmm?" she said softly, "I don't plan on going anywhere…" she stopped, biting back the rest of the words lest she feel as though she were lying to him. As if sensing it, his hold tightened, not painfully so, but enough to be a little uncomfortable.

"Can we stay like this?" he started again, turning his head and pressing it closely to her chest, listening to her heartbeat had a much more calming affect than he'd ever care to admit aloud, "Please, just a little longer…"

She felt at a loss, and though the new position was starting to hurt her lower back, she agreed with a simple, "okay," and resumed her soothing strokes along his scalp and down his back. "Okay." She whispered once more, resting her head on top of his and allowing her body to relax into his embrace.

**A/N:**

**So… I might enjoy writing Crying!Eren more than anyone should…fight me.**

**While I don't think this installment was necessarily worth the wait (it was certainly long though), I sure hope you think the rest of the story is. Not really my favorite chapter, and I think that's why it took so long for me to finish it.**

**Fun Fact: I finally… FINALLY made a twitter ( HarukaHourou) and Instagram ( haruka_hourou). My friends have been on my ass for years about them…I still have no idea how to use either, but if any of you gals and guys use either and would like to join me on my derp adventures of how technology works, then feel free to add me on one or both! (I do follow back~!)**

**I'll also try to keep those updated (mainly my twitter) with how far along I am in a chapter or if there will be any delays in releases as well as updates on the personal stories series I'm starting up in a few weeks. I'll release more details on that soon. But long story short, that series is essentially my way of thanking you all for your support and patience, and will be a series of request based one-shots.**


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